Last month, the Japanese research foundation Institute of Cetacean Research and the Japanese firm Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha Ltd. secured a U.S. District Court injunction against Watson and his Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, according to the institute's website.

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Last week, after a series of particularly dangerous confrontations, the group claimed to have brought about a suspension of whaling - an assertion rejected by the Japanese fisheries ministry and also its Institute of Cetacean Research, which organises the hunt.

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The Japanese fleet is run by the government-subsidized Institute for Cetacean Research, in Tokyo, but the institute has produced virtually no research of any regard, and all the whales that are purported to be under study are also butchered for the purpose of selling whale meat to the Japanese public.

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"As a United States citizen, I will respect and comply with the ruling of the United States 9th District Court and will not violate the temporary injunction granted to the Institute for Cetacean Research, " Watson said in a statement Tuesday.

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