Japan has launched a new whale hunt ahead of an international meeting which Tokyo hopes will end a ban on commercial whaling. Five government ships have left for northwestern Pacific waters to kill 260 whales.

Environmentalists have long fought to stop Japanese whaling, saying the mammals are endangered and point to a glut of whale meat on the Japanese market but Japan still goes back to the same old argument that the meat is part of its traditional diet. Japan uses a loophole that allows the killing of whales for "research," even though the meat usually ends up for human consumption. The latest hunt comes ahead of a meeting of the International Whaling Commission starting on June 16 in the West Indies, where Japan is due to make its latest push to legalise commercial whaling.

Australia, which strongly opposes whaling, has accused Japan of using financial aid to poor countries in exchange for their votes on the commission. Japan officially stopped whaling in the 1987-1988 season and reluctantly accepted an international moratorium supported by Western countries. Japan last year doubled its annual kill to about 850 minke whales and extended the hunt to other species considered to be endangered. Japan has also launched a new marketing drive which aims to encourage more people to eat whale by selling it at cheaper prices to hospitals, bars, restaurants and schools.

Norway's annual minke whale hunt is yielding fewer whales than last year, which could mean a population decline.

The whalers are allowed to slaughter as many as 1,000 animals but over the past two months, they have killed 50 whales so far, compared to 200 by this time last year. Norway is blaming the bad weather but let us all hope that the whales are evading the hunters' spears for once.

Norway is the only country that explicitly defies the ban on commercial whaling.