Despite western protests, Japan's whaling fleet set off Sunday towards the Antarctic for a hunt for the famed humpback whales and fin whales.

Though the hunt was legal under the international whaling convention, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said, "we note that non-lethal research techniques are available to provide nearly all relevant data on whale populations.

"We call on Japan to refrain from conducting this year's hunt, especially in respect to Humpback and fin whales," McCormack said, reading from a statement.

"We also urge restraint and measured approaches from all sides at any protests that may be planned against the Japanese fleet in the Southern Ocean," he said.

"The sinking or damaging of a vessel in this area could have catastrophic consequences for the crews involved, the environment and indeed the living resources all parties cherish," he said.

Japan argues that whale populations have recovered enough to allow a managed catch, but militant environmentalists have vowed in turn to "hunt the whalers" to save the humpbacks.

The six-vessel fleet took off from the western port of Shimonoseki for its five-month voyage led by the 8,044-tonne Nisshin Maru, which has been repaired since a fire that forced Japan to cut short its last Antarctic hunt.

Japan's whaling program is particularly controversial this year because there are plans to kill 50 humpback whales, which opponents say are still endangered.

The annual migration of humpback whales between the Southern Ocean and tropical Pacific waters also supports valuable whale watching tourism ventures in New Zealand, Australia and Tonga.

Japan also intends to kill 50 fin whales, the world's second largest animal after the blue whale.

Greenpeace and the more radical Sea Shepherd environmental group said they would tail the Japanese fleet to protest and disrupt whaling operations.

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