A Japanese whaling ship sent up a distress signal in the Antarctic after it reportedly collided with a boat carrying anti-whaling activists.
Campaigners for the US-based Sea Shepherd group said the clash happened as they tried to block the Japanese ship's access to a pod of whales.
They said their boat suffered a 1m (3ft) gash to its hull, and the whaling ship's propeller had been damaged.
Japanese officials said the group was behaving like pirates.
Anti-whaling activists have been pursuing the Japanese whaling ships for weeks, in the icy southern waters, as they hunt 850 minke whales and 10 fin whales.
A temporary truce was called on Friday when the whalers joined a hunt for two activists, who became lost during a confrontation.
"They backed into us," the group's spokesman, Paul Watson said, adding that their ship the Robert Hunter had received a "gash in the steel of the hull".
No-one was believed to have been hurt, and no serious damage to either ship was reported.
clipped from: news.bbc.co.uk 
