Whalers design more explosive harpoon

Whalers have designed a new and more powerful warhead for the harpoons they are using in the Antarctic Ocean because they have added larger - and endangered - fin and humpback whales to their catch.

Experts from the Institute of Cetacean Research are aboard the whaling fleet to determine the effectiveness of their souped-up harpoon, as well as to carry out the tests that Japan uses as an excuse for its 'scientific whaling' programme.

'Because new species have been added to the research project this year which are larger than a minke whale, we thought we would need a bigger grenade on the end of the harpoon to ensure the killing is instantaneous,' said Masayuki Komatsu, executive director of the Japan Fisheries Research Agency.

Despite international condemnation, Japan announced unilaterally last year that its whaling fleet would add up to 50 endangered humpback whales and 50 fin whales to the 935 minke whales it would catch within the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary this season. Tokyo refuses to recognise the sanctuary.

The whalers' new weapon uses a larger amount of the explosive pentrite, which was first introduced in whaling fleets in the 1970s. The institute has designed the warhead to enter deep into the whale's body before exploding.

It is also meant to explode into fragments, increasing the chances of a piece piercing the creature's brain and killing it outright.