I'll take bets now that the 'deal' is dead
Okay, having time to reflect on the 'deal' I am am now convinced that its doomed to failure.
Not only does the 'deal' try to overturn legal measures such as the Southern Ocean Sanctuary, but both Japan and Iceland have major problems with it. It would seem Japan has welcomed all the bits where its stands to gain something and at the same time is saying that it is going to campaign for higher quotas in the forthcoming negotiations.
Iceland is just 'barmy' when it comes to whaling and appears will accept nothing but an extra 50% on their existing quotas, plus first class airfares to fly their whale meat around the world. - there again, it appears its not the Iceland Government that dictates their whaling policy but the whalers themselves...
I have a feeling that even the New Zealand Government will baulk at accepting legalized whaling in the Southern Ocean Sanctuary but the US delegation seem to have forgotten what whale conservation is all about, and actually think its about conserving their own jobs in defending ASW quotas.
So, a deal that the Whalers hate (all except Norway who get more whales than they can actually catch) and a deal that overturns everything positive that the conservation countries have fought for, for so long.
Who thinks this is going anywhere?
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Isn't the status quo in 'Pareto optimality'?
Nations doing commercial whaling can remain in the current position, those with people who need ASW quota can satisfy such people and groups to condemn whaling have sustainable source of condemnation to receive donation (or the similar funding).
While being in a fix - at least it seems -
for commercial whaling, what isn't in the status of 'global equilibrium' is Japan's hunt/ capture of dolphins and small toothed whales around its coast.
Since this issue looks outside the jurisdiction of the IWC, the role of WDCS seems ever greater for international coordination for enlightening Japan against Taiji's drive hunt to hand-harpooning off the coast of north-eastern Japan.
Interestingly the issue of small cetaceans is hotly contested in the IWC. Indeed, orca and bottlenose whales have been addressed in the IWC definitions of small type whaling, in referring to what type of whale is taken in commercial whaling, not boat or ship sizes.