Workers butcher a Baird's Beaked whale at a port southeast of Tokyo in 2008.

A Japanese fleet on Thursday returned to port with 333 minke whales killed in the nation's first Antarctic hunt in two years after defying an international court.

The Japanese Fisheries Agency announced that the four-ship fleet had fulfilled its catch quota during the months-long expedition, which it maintains will aid in scientific research of whales.

A 1986 international ban on commercial whaling includes an exemption for scientific research, a loophole other nations — most notably Australia — accuse Japan of exploiting.

