The government will conduct so-called research whaling off Hokkaido in northern Japan from this Saturday through late October, with plans to take up to 51 minke whales, the Fisheries Agency said Wednesday.

The coastal whaling — to be conducted off Kushiro, Hokkaido, on the same scale as last autumn — is part of the country's research whaling plan for the northwestern Pacific.

The hunting is aimed at contributing to resource management by researching whale ecology through analysis of such things as stomach contents and organs, according to the agency.

Japan halted its research whaling in the Antarctic after the International Court of Justice ruled in March last year that the activities violated the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling.

However, it has continued its research whaling in Japan coastal areas and the northwestern Pacific.