Greenpeace says a Japanese whaling ship has left port for Japan's annual whale hunt in Antarctic waters.
The organisation says the factory ship Nisshin Maru left the western port of Innoshima later in the season than in the past.
Japan kills hundreds of whales per year in Antarctic waters by using a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows the sea mammals to be hunted for research.
Japan's fisheries agency has refused to confirm the ship's departure due to security reasons.
