Environment crusader vows to attack Japanese whalers

Paul Watson

The hardline environmental group Sea Shepherd has raised the stakes in the Antarctic whaling stand-off, saying it intended to attack the Japanese fleet, even at the cost of its own ship, a report in the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) said today.

Its leader, Paul Watson, said yesterday that his group aboard the ship Farley Mowat expected a battle he had been working towards for 25 years.

"We have been warned that the Japanese have firearms and that they intend to aggressively resist us," Captain Watson said.

"We may lose our ship and find ourselves in lifeboats within the next few hours. I am quite sure we will sustain damage."

He posted a statement via an email headed "Tora, tora, tora", the battle cry used when Japanese warplanes attacked the US fleet at Pearl Harbour in 1941.