apan's whaling fleet was set to leave port Sunday for its biggest-ever scientific whale hunt in the South Pacific, the government fisheries agency said.
The whalers have orders to kill up to 50 humpback whales — the first known large-scale hunt for the species since a 1963 moratorium put humpbacks under international protection.
The new hunt is certain to renew Japan's angry standoff with anti-whaling forces. Greenpeace and the animal rights activist group Sea Shepherd have said they will track the South Pacific hunt.
Four ships including the lead craft, the 8,044-ton Nisshin Maru, were set to leave Sunday morning from the southern port of Shimonoseki, said a news release from Japan's Fisheries Agency.
Two observation boats left northern Japan on Wednesday, the agency said.
Along with the humpbacks, the 239-member mission that runs through April will also take up to 935 Antarctic minke whales and up to 50 fin whales in their largest scientific whale hunt ever held in the South Pacific, according to a report Japan submitted to the International Whaling Commission earlier this year.
But it is the plan to hunt the humpback — a favorite among whale-watchers for its distinctive knobby head, intelligence and out-of-the-water acrobatics — that has triggered environmentalists' condemnation.
"These whales don't have to die," said a Greenpeace spokesman, Junichi Sato. "Humpbacks are very sensitive and live in close-knit pods. So even one death can be extremely damaging."
Humpback whales were hunted to near-extinction four decades ago. They have been off-limits since 1963, except for a few caught under a subsistence program by Greenland and the Caribbean nation of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. Each caught one humpback last year, according to the International Whaling Commission.
The former Soviet Union defied the ban and hunted humpbacks until 1973. It is disputed how many were killed.
Scientists say humpback whales are complex creatures that communicate through lengthy "songs."
Although they grow up to 48 feet long and weigh as much as 40 tons, they are extremely acrobatic, often throwing themselves out of the water, swimming on their backs with both flippers in the air, or slapping the water with their tails.
The American Cetacean Society estimates the global humpback population at 30,000-40,000 — about a third of the number before modern whaling. The species is listed as "vulnerable" by the World Conservation Union.
Japanese fisheries officials insist, however, that the animals' population has returned to a sustainable level.
"Humpback whales in our research area are rapidly recovering," said the Fisheries Agency's whaling chief, Hideki Moronuki. "Taking 50 humpbacks from a population of tens of thousands will have no significant impact whatsoever."
He said killing whales lets marine biologists study their internal organs. Ovaries provide vital clues to reproductive systems, earwax indicates age, and stomach contents reveal eating habits, he said.
Meat from Japan's scientific catch is sold commercially, as permitted by the IWC, but Japanese officials deny that profit is a goal.
Japan also argues that whaling is a tradition in its country that dates back to the early 1600s, and Tokyo has pushed unsuccessfully at the IWC to reverse the 1986 commercial whaling moratorium.
Environmentalists claim that Japan's research program is a pretext for keeping the whaling industry alive.
Japan accuses activists of "environmental terrorism." After its last Antarctic hunt, the government released video of protesters launching smoke canisters from a Sea Shepherd ship and dropping ropes and nets to entangle the Japanese ships' propellers.
"We call them terrorists because they engage in blatant terrorism," Moronuki said. "We don't want violence. ... All Japan wants is to find a sustainable way to hunt a very precious marine resource."
Environmentalists have long campaigned for an end to the winter catch in the Southern Ocean and a North Pacific mission that kills about 100 minke whales a year.
Scientists note that humpbacks migrate to the southern seas from breeding grounds around the world.
"Some breeding grounds are not recovering to the same extent as others," said whale biologists Ken Findlay at the University of Cape Town. "While the catch may be small, we're not sure where they come from. That's a real concern."
Environmentalists also are critical of the harpooning methods Japan's fleet uses. Ships sometimes chase wounded whales for hours, Findlay said.
Save the carbon but kill the whales and dolphins
