The United States is preparing to turn a ban on the lucrative trade in shark fin into law, a move conservationists hope will help protect the millions of sharks killed each year to meet demand in China and other parts of Asia.
The proposed legislation is part of the US defense spending bill, which President Joe Biden is expected to sign soon.
Decades ago, the practice of shark finning was already banned in the United States, where sharks are fished for fins and then dumped back into the ocean.
But the United States remains a major center of the fast-growing trade, with as many as 73 million shark fins cut off globally each year.
