The European Commission today took a final decision to endorse a proposal for a ban on the international trade of tuna, with Malta being the only member state to vote against.

The proposal will be presented at the forthcoming meeting of the CITES Convention in Doha, Qatar.

Malta has been consistently against the proposal while France, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus, which initially were also against, changed their position and supported the ban.

The EU said it would support a total ban as long as it did not become effective before next year's season. Two thirds of the 179 countries which are party to the CITES Convention have to back the proposed ban for it to become effective.

Japan, the biggest consumer of tuna, has said that it won't support the ban and would try to sway a blocking minority.

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