Anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd has agreed to pay damages to Japanese whalers for violating a US court injunction and continuing to disturb their research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.
The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed the US-headquartered group's appeal. The justices upheld a lower court decision that found Sea Shepherd violated a 2012 court injunction, and ordered the conservation organization to pay damages.
Sea Shepherd agreed to pay 2.55 million dollars to the plaintiffs including the Japanese Institute of Cetacean Research.
The plaintiffs filed a lawsuit in 2011 with a US federal district court. They sought to stop the hardline marine-life conservation group from obstructing Japanese research whaling in the Antarctic Ocean.
Last December, the US Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Sea Shepherd violated a provisional injunction banning the group from disturbing Japanese whalers. It ordered the group to pay damages. The Supreme Court dismissed Sea Shepherd's appeal.