British journalist, Mark Votier, may have to pay dearly for his attempt to save the minke whales. The Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research has filed a suit against him for damages and costs totalling US $448,000. It has accused him of breach of con- tract which prevented him from releasing film showing'unsightly tasks'. Votier had taken photographs which showed minke whales thrashing in agony as a low-voltage electrical charge slowly kills them without posing a threat to the whalers and sold the film to television companies and animal welfare organisations without deleting the scenes.