ABSTRACT
A significant consequence of IWC in-fighting is that it has prevented the international community from meaningfully addressing the most pressing anthropogenic threats to cetaceans: climate change, by-catch, ship strikes, marine pollution, entanglement, and habitat degradation. Marine Mammal Conservation and the Law of the Sea proposed a compromise between pro-sustainable use and pro-preservation Contracting Governments that would allow for limited commercial whaling in return for targeted progress addressing modern threats. In view of Japan’s withdrawal from the IWC, it is worth re-visiting this proposition by considering an alternative: whether Japan’s exit from the IWC closes the door on a global whaling compromise but opens another door that allows for the protectionist agenda to dominate the IWC’s future.
