A bloody and brutal annual dolphin hunt has begun in Japan.

This weekend the yearly event kicked off in Taiji, a town in the south of the country.

The usually tranquil waters off the small, sparsely populated town are turned into foaming mass of red, white and blue as fisherman herd the animals into a cove.

There the mammals are slaughtered for their meat with knives.

Others are scooped out of the water and sold to aquariums and marine parks.

The hunt started rather unsuccessfully on Sunday when, Japanese media reported, boats returned with no dolphins.

Some way was made towards reaching the 1,700 animal quota on Monday however, when five of the animals were killed.

Taiji is the only town in Japan where drive hunting – the technique of pushing large groups of the mammals into confined spaces before slaughtering them – is carried out on such a scale.

It has long history in the area, with the first commercial operations dating back to 1606.

The technique of herding small cetaceans towards the land is a form of aboriginal whaling that is used by coastal communities around the world, from the Faroe Islands to the Soloman Islands.

In recent years only Taiji has continued the practice on any significant scale.

During the hunt period in 2015/2016 – which runs from the beginning of September to the end of February – 66 Bottlenose dolphins, 51 short-finned pilot whales, 245 Risso dolphins and 290 Striped dolphins were killed.

The barbarity of the hunt was captured in the 2009 film The Cove, which won Oscar for Best Documentary Feature.

The film follows dolphin trainer and activist Ric O'Barry, who looks inside a highly secretive practice done behind tall wire fences and 'Keep out' signs.

It is suggested many Japanese people are not aware of the scale of the hunt, largely due to attempts to conceal it.

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