Japan has confirmed that it will carry out its largest whaling programme in the South Pacific.
The mission, expected to draw strong protests from environmentalists, will depart on Sunday and breaks a 44-year moratorium on hunting humpback whales.
Japan’s fisheries ministry said the fleet had instructions to kill up to 1,000 whales, including 50 humpbacks.
Japan was forced to abandon commercial whaling in 1986, but has since carried out whaling for “scientific research”.
Four whaling ships, including the lead craft Nisshin Maru, will depart from the southern port of Shimonoseki.
The 239-man mission plans to kill more than 900 minke whales as well as fin whales and humpbacks, in a South Pacific whale hunt that will run until mid-April.
The 8,000 metric tonne Nisshin Maru was crippled by a fire on a whaling mission in the Antarctic in March. One crew member was killed.
A Greenpeace campaign ship will be following the Japanese fleet.
Tokyo’s plan to target the humpback - which was hunted to near extinction four decades ago - has drawn condemnation from environmentalists.