A Sydney court fined a Japanese company A$1 million ($709,000) on Wednesday for repeatedly killing Antarctic minke whales in an Australian Southern Ocean sanctuary.

The Federal Court found that Kyodo Senpaku Kaisha harpooned the animals in contravention of parts of Australia's Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act over four seasons between 2008 and 2013.

Justice Jayne Jagot ordered Kyodo to pay fines of A$250,000 for each of the seasons, after finding it guilty of willful contempt of a 2008 injunction against hunting the animals in the area.