(CNN) Sea Shepherd, the environmental group famous for tracking , exposing and occasionally ramming Japanese whalers, says it can no longer compete with them on the high seas. In January, Sea Shepherd said it caught Japanese poachers trying to cover up the whale. Sea Shepherd's Australian branch maintain that the US court ruling has no jurisdiction in Australian waters and vowed to continue in its fight to expose Japanese whalers, which the group says break international law. "Instead of supporting Sea Shepherd the Australian government has been supporting the Japanese whalers by harassing Sea Shepherd and obstructing Sea Shepherd's ability to raise funds by denying our charitable status," Watson said. Australia's Department for Environment and Energy did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Sea Shepherd's statement.

Source: CNN August 29, 2017 08:15 UTC