Four months after cutting short it's Antarctic Ocean whale hunt Japan has sent a fleet of whaling vessels to the north-west Pacific for another 'research hunt'.

AFP reports that the three-vessel fleet, led by the Nisshin Maru, left Japan yesterday. They will be at sea till late August and plan to catch 260 whales to study their stomach contents, DNA and other information. Japan's Institute of Cetacean Research said the research is necessary to substantiate its claim that there is a robust whale population.

Japan cites a loophole in a 1986 international moratorium on commercial whaling which allows for scientific research.
 Yet anti-whaling nations and environmentalist groups condemn the research hunts, saying they are a cover for commercial whaling.

On February 18, Japan halted its Antarctic Ocean research hunt for the 2010-2011 season because of unrelenting obstruction by environmentalist group, Sea Shepherd. The hunt had been due to run from December until March and they had hoped to kill 935 minke whales, 50 fin whales and 50 humpbacks. Sea Shepherd's president, Paul Watson, doubted the Japanese whalers had even reached 10 per cent of their quota.

At the time Mr Watson said he was confident his organisation was winning its fight."I'm 75 per cent sure they won't be back next year but, if they are, we'll be prepared to come back."

Recently, Australia and New Zealand launched legal action against Japanese whaling in the International High Court of Justice. Despite the mounting international pressure the latest hunt is proof that Japan has no plans to acquiesce.

Sea Shepherd are yet to release a statement about the latest whaling activity.