** Japan use tsunami disaster money to fund whale hunt **

Japan has confirmed it plans to use some of the public funds earmarked for quake and tsunami reconstruction to boost security for its controversial annual whale hunt, stating it would deploy an unspecified number of guards to protect the ships from anti-whaling activists. A growing number of Japanese environmental and consumer groups are joining in protest against use of the recovery funds to subsidise the loss-making whaling. A total of 18 Japanese non-government organisations have now signed a protest letter to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda.

Three ships from Japan's whaling fleet, led by the 720 ton Yushin Maru, have set sail from Shimonoseki Western Japan for the countrys' annual hunt in Antarctica.

In past years, a mother ship usually joins the fleet at a later date, however the government's fishery agency declined to confirm these reports, citing security reasons and say they cannot make public the timing of the fleets' departure and its operational plans.

The whaling fleet will return to port in March 2012. In February of this year Japan cut short their hunt for the 2010/2011 season by one month after killing only one fifth of its planned catch. According to a plan submitted by the government to the International Whaling Commission, the fleet aims to catch around 900 minke and fin whales this season.

Commercial whaling is currently banned under an international treaty however since 1987 Japan has used a loophole to conduct "lethal research" on whales in the name of science. Japan has claimed this "research" is necessary to substantiate their view that the worlds' whale population is robust - even although it is widely known that whale meat from this research ends up on Japanese consumers dinner tables and in restaurants.

In October, Australia and New Zealand renewed their demands that Japan abandon its plan to return to the Antarctic Ocean. Japans' coast guard have said that they will deploy an unspecified number of guards in the fleet for protection against obstruction by anti-whaling activists. The Japanese government is spending an extra 2.28 billion yen, on top of its normal $10 million annual subsidy, clearly showing the whaling industry is unable to survive without large increases in government handouts.