(Sydney Morning Herald)
Sea Shepherd lobs flares at Japanese
RAW VISION: Video posted on the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research website appears to show Sea Shepherd activists throwing flares at a whaling vessel.
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Anti-whaling activists have attacked a Japanese harpoon ship with incendiary devices as the battle between them ratchets up a level in the Southern Ocean.
Videos show the devices burning brightly on protective nets erected around the ship Yushin Maru No.2, or releasing orange smoke as crewmen attempt to repel the activists with water jets.
Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR) said the activists, from the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, were using "flash bangs".
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Crewmen on a Japanese harpoon ship in the Southern Ocean attempt to repel anti-whaling activists with water jets as incendiary devices burn on protective nets.
However, Sea Shepherd said these concussion grenades, used against it by the Japan Coast Guard in 2008, were not deployed. Instead it said the devices were stink bombs.
At one point, in a near accident, one of the Sea Shepherd inflatables began to fill with water from the stern when a rope trailing from it appeared to become caught under the harpoon ship before it was released.
The two sides have been engaged in a running conflict since New Year's Eve, when the Sea Shepherd vessels Steve Irwin, Bob Barker and Gojira pounced on the whaling fleet's harpoon ships south-east of New Zealand.
Anti-whaling activists attack a Japanese harpoon ship with incendiary devices.
Since then two of the harpoon ships have been following the Steve Irwin and Bob Barker, while the activists' main target, the factory ship Nisshin Maru, has steamed westward towards waters south-east of Tasmania, apparently accompanied by one other harpoon ship.
The engagement meant few, if any, whales had been killed yet, Sea Shepherd leader, Paul Watson, said.
He said the object of the attack late on Sunday night was to throw the Yushin Maru No.2 off the tail of the Bob Barker.
Anti-whaling activists attack a Japanese harpoon ship with incendiary devices.
"Having the harpooners tail the Bob Barker and the Steve Irwin serves to keep them from whaling but it prevents us closing in on the Nisshin Maru," Mr Watson said.
"The Gojira, however, continues to pursue the Nisshin Maru westward."
The ICR said the devices burnt for a while, but fire did not spread to the nets themselves. There were no injuries to Japanese crew members or damage as a result of the attack.
It repeated a call on related countries including Australia to take every available means to restrain the activists, and deal objectively with what it called their criminal actions.
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