The Japanese fisheries agency said recently up to 60 minke whales in the north Pacific Ocean will be caught in the coming month for research.

Five boats will be dispatched this week off northern Japan for the research mission that will run through late May.

The agency said researchers will study the whales’ dietary intake and the data will be used to analyze the whale population’s impact on fishery resources.

Japan kills more than 1,000 whales a year under an International Whaling Commission clause allowing whaling for scientific research, despite a 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling.

The country’s whaling expeditions are conducted by The Institute of Cetacean Research, a private nonprofit group funded by the government and Kyodo Senpaku, a for-profit company that processes and sells whale products.

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