Can Japan Declare Victory in the Whale Wars?

The International Whaling Commission’s proposed compromise on the whaling dispute has been released (h/t Jurist). As I noted before, the proposed deal would bring all nations within the IWC framework, but explicitly permit commercial whaling for certain nations for at least the next 10 years. The numbers permitted under the proposal is a little murky, but it may include thousands of whales, including some whales that are considered endangered.  Predictably, the Greenpeace folks are opposed.  It is true that this is not exactly a whale-friendly compromise.  But Japan could, with relatively little cost, simply get out of the IWC and hunt even more. So the choice for whale-defenders is a tough one. But this compromise text looks promising.