In the magical language of global whaling, the term "fatal hunting" can be equated to "scientific research" and "international ban" can be reworked to read "able to kill more minke whales than ever before."

That appears to be the bottom line of Japan's renewed effort to gain world support for its plans to hunt minke whales in the Antarctic Ocean in 2015, despite the fact its so-called whaling research program was rejected by a United Nations high court earlier this year, according to a report by the Associated Press.

Under the terms of a 1986 international ban on commercial whaling, however, Japan had continued to catch whales for "scientific research," in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Last March, however, the International Court of Justice ruled the Japan's whaling operation in the Antarctic in fact wasn't scientific, as the island nation had claimed, and could not go forward -- which Japanese fisheries officials apparently understood as an opportunity to revamp their threatened hunting program and get it back on track in time for next year's hunting season.

Japan has announced it will submit a revised program strategy to the International Whaling Commission, the regulatory body that oversees the whaling industry, later around November.

Japan's fisheries agency plans to formally announce its intention to continue research whaling and introduce a basic plan at the IWC meeting in Slovenia, which runs Sept. 15-18.

Approval from the IWC's scientific committee isn't mandatory, but any attempt to resume whaling without its consent would be likely open Japan to intense scrutiny.

Japanese officials said between now and then they will work toward finalizing catch targets and other details of what they hope will be their country's continued refreshed whaling program, said the AP story, which will answer problems cited by the court, an agency official said on condition of anonymity.

The court had ruled Japan's Antarctic program produced little actual research and failed to explain why it needed to kill so many whales for study.

As a response, Japan says it will no longer hunt fin and humpback whales, limiting its research efforts to minke whales.

According to data acquired by the AP, after steadily reaching its annual catch target of 440 minke for 17 years, Japan more than doubled its yearly take with 935 minke whales in 2005.

Since then, however, annual minke catches have declined.

The Japanese government also has had to keep using tax money to sustain whaling operators, as market demand for whale meat has decreased and violent protests by anti-whaling group Sea Shepherd have disrupted whaling operations.

During the 2013-14 season, Japan caught 251 minke whales in the Antarctic and 224 others in the northern Pacific program.

The country also hunts more than 160 whales along its own coast, outside of IWC oversight.

Japan has said it will venture to the Antarctic later this year, but only for nonlethal research.