Three harpoon and two research ships set sail from three separate ports in Japan with more than 200 crew to hunt whales in the Pacific waters, said the Institute of Cetacean Research, which sends the state-backed whaling fleet.

Japan hunts whales using a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research" on the giant mammals, and it makes no secret of the fact that the meat is then sold as food.

Opposition to Japan's research whaling has become increasingly violent in recent years, including harassment and high-sea clashes with militant environmentalists during annual expeditions in the Antarctic waters.

Due to obstructions by the US-based Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, Japan reported its catch was sharply down to 507 whales in the 2009-2010 expedition to the southern waters, below a target of about 850.

"We cannot rule out any possibilities," said Japan's Fisheries Agency official Hiroshi Kawamura. "Crews are trained for any contingencies."

In the latest whaling trip, the fleet led by the Nisshin Maru mother ship plans to catch 100 minke whales, 100 sei whales, 50 Bryde's whales and 10 sperm whales before returning in late August, the operator said.

The expedition comes after Australia launched legal action with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in an effort to stop Japan killing hundreds of whales a year in the name of science.

Japan is also entangled with a high-profile trial against a New Zealand anti-whaling activist, who boarded a Japanese harpoon ship in Antarctic waters.

In February, Peter Bethune, 45, scaled a Japanese ship from a jetski with the intention of making a citizen's arrest of its captain but was instead detained and taken back to Japan.

He now faces up to 15 years in jail over five counts, including assault for allegedly injuring a whaler with a rancid butter projectile and has been dropped by the Sea Shepherd group for defying its non-violent principles.

In another trial, two Greenpeace activists potentially face 18-month jail terms for theft and trespassing while investigating alleged embezzlement in Japan's whaling industry.

The International Whaling Commission, seeking to end decades of bitter conflict between its pro- and anti-whaling members, is set to begin talks in two weeks in Morocco.

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