Japan's whaling fleet recently returned to home waters with the carcases of 680 whales aboard. The target was 850 when the annual hunt began in November. Officials in the ministry of fisheries blamed the shortfall on the activities of environmental campaigners, and on bad weather.

Japan claims that there were sufficient stocks in the Southern Ocean, where the fleet operated for 100 days. It was mostly minke whales onboard with a catch of one fin whale out of a quota of 50. Japan's whale hunt is allowed under international rules as a scientific program, despite a 1986 ban on commercial whaling. Whale meat not used for study is sold for consumption, ending up in restaurants and school meals - the real reason for the hunt.

The research is conducted by the Institute of Cetacean Research (ICR), a privately-owned, non-profit institution. It receives its funding from government subsidies and Kyodo Senpaku, which handles processing and marketing of by-products such as whale meat. Generations of children continue to be given whale meat for their school lunches with attempts also being made to increase its popularity by marketing whale curry and whale burgers. So far, Japan has refrained from hunting humpback whales after an international outcry.