Story highlights Sea Shepherd says it caught the Japanese vessel with its own new ship

The International Court of Justice ruled against the Japanese whaling program in 2014

(CNN) The anti-whaling activist organization Sea Shepherd says it spotted a Japanese vessel with a dead whale on board, in violation of international law.

The group said the Nisshin Maru was spotted trying to cover up a dead minke whale carcass with a tarp when a helicopter approached the vessel in the waters of the Australian Whale Sanctuary.

Captain Adam Meyerson of the Ocean Warrior, Sea Shepherd's newest Southern Ocean patrol ship, says that the crew was caught "red-handed."

Japan's Whaling affairs division of its Fishery Agency said it was aware of the Sea Shepherd statement and photographs, but said it would hold off on commenting until it gets a report of its own from the Japanese vessel.

Sea Shepherd says it caught a Japanese vessel covering a whale carcass in a blue tarp.

Whaling loophole

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