[JURIST] The International Whaling Commission [official website] voted 29-23 against lifting its ban on commercial whaling Tuesday at its 2005 annual meeting [agenda]. Japan had recently threatened to leave the organization [JURIST report] if it didn't allow for some sort of sanctioned whaling. The ban has been in place since 1986. Only Norway continues to practice commercial whaling in spite of the ban, but Japan's practice of research whaling [government press release] has drawn criticism as being disguised commercial whaling. AP has more.