Japanese whalers have asked a U.S. federal court judge in Seattle to order Sea Shepherd to stop disrupting its whaling activities in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica.

The Tokyo-based Institute of Cetacean Research and others are seeking a court order to prevent SS from engaging in activities at sea that could harm the crew and damage its vessels but Judge Richard A. Jones has delayed hearing the institute's motion for a preliminary injunction by several weeks, granting SS more time to respond. The judge set a hearing for mid February but lawyers for SS are seeking to dismiss the lawsuit because the actions filed do not have a basis in law or fact. Japan claim the hunt is for research purpose, but there's no research. The whales are butchered, slaughtered at sea, and the meat is sold as food. Japan's annual whaling fleet left Japan earlier this month with plans to kill 900 whales, mostly minke whales. SS at the weekend intercepted the Japanese whaling fleet after sending an aerial drone to find and photograph one of the whaling vessels about a thousand miles north of the Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary. The drone will help track the whalers over hundreds of miles.

In the meantime, an investigation has found the importation of whale products into Australia was covertly authorised for "scientific research. Since 2005, four companies have been granted two-year permits to import fresh whale products including blood, according to federal government documents obtained under Freedom of Information.Details of the importation were obtained from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which would not reveal the nature of the research for which they were destined. The unspecified products, including from humpback and right whales, are limited to 20g or 20ml at each time for "laboratory" use. Conservation groups now want a public register to identify what research the products are being used for and if it is to assist endangered species but a department spokesman said it was very unlikely the companies involved would consent to "commercial-in-confidence" material being released to the public.Government institutions such as the SA Museum are given automatic international permits for preserved whale items, allowing them to carry out research to save endangered species.

Environment Minister Tony Burke, who oversees the Australian campaign against Japanese whaling, said none of the approvals were granted by the current government.