Japan has started its controversial annual dolphin hunt in the coastal town of Taiji.
The hunt sees the animals driven into a cove where most are slaughtered for their meat with knives in shallow waters.
Other dolphins are sold to aquariums and marine parks.
The Taiji hunt has been carried out for decades and gained global attention when it was the subject of the Oscar-winning documentary The Cove in 2009.
Japan this year also resumed catching whales for profit, in defiance of international criticism. (BBC)
