Java APIs

Hello,
I am completely new to developing java web applications and I dealing with some very strange behavior. I am simply trying to run tomcat through a tomcat plugin for debugging purposes. When I start tomcat via the command line my application runs fine. When I start tomcat via the eclipse plugin, the server starts without any errors, however when I try to access certain pages via web browser I receive the error

javax.servlet.ServletException: com/sun/tools/javac/Main (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:256)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.doForward(RequestProcessor.java:1069)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.doForward(TilesRequestProcessor.java:274)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processTilesDefinition(TilesRequestProcessor.java:254)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(TilesRequestProcessor.java:309)
org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(RequestProcessor.java:279)
org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(ActionServlet.java:1482)
org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doGet(ActionServlet.java:507)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:743)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)

root cause

java.lang.UnsupportedClassVersionError: com/sun/tools/javac/Main (Unsupported major.minor version 49.0)
java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass0(Native Method)
java.lang.ClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
java.security.SecureClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
java.net.URLClassLoader.defineClass(Unknown Source)
java.net.URLClassLoader.access$100(Unknown Source)
java.net.URLClassLoader$1.run(Unknown Source)
java.security.AccessController.doPrivileged(Native Method)
java.net.URLClassLoader.findClass(Unknown Source)
org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader.findClass(StandardClassLoader.java:520)
org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader.loadClass(StandardClassLoader.java:857)
org.apache.catalina.loader.StandardClassLoader.loadClass(StandardClassLoader.java:756)
java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(Unknown Source)
java.lang.Class.forName0(Native Method)
java.lang.Class.forName(Unknown Source)
org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.compilers.CompilerAdapterFactory.doesModernCompilerExist(CompilerAdapterFactory.java:174)
org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.compilers.CompilerAdapterFactory.getCompiler(CompilerAdapterFactory.java:132)
org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Javac.compile(Javac.java:969)
org.apache.tools.ant.taskdefs.Javac.execute(Javac.java:799)
org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.generateClass(Compiler.java:390)
org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:458)
org.apache.jasper.compiler.Compiler.compile(Compiler.java:439)
org.apache.jasper.JspCompilationContext.compile(JspCompilationContext.java:553)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServletWrapper.service(JspServletWrapper.java:291)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.serviceJspFile(JspServlet.java:301)
org.apache.jasper.servlet.JspServlet.service(JspServlet.java:248)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)
org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.doForward(RequestProcessor.java:1069)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.doForward(TilesRequestProcessor.java:274)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processTilesDefinition(TilesRequestProcessor.java:254)
org.apache.struts.tiles.TilesRequestProcessor.processForwardConfig(TilesRequestProcessor.java:309)
org.apache.struts.action.RequestProcessor.process(RequestProcessor.java:279)
org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.process(ActionServlet.java:1482)
org.apache.struts.action.ActionServlet.doGet(ActionServlet.java:507)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:743)
javax.servlet.http.HttpServlet.service(HttpServlet.java:856)

I realize this is occurring due to java version issues however I cannot understand why simply running tomcat via the eclipse plugin causes this since the jvm settings all appear to be correct