Now Cuomo signs conservation proposal

[mike rossi]

Following the lead of several other states, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo signed a bill on Friday banning the possession, sale and — presumably — the ingestion of shark fins, signaling the death knell for a traditional Chinatown delicacy: shark fin soup.

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Mr. Cuomo, an avid fisherman, said that he signed the legislation, which will take effect next year, to help safeguard the tens of millions of sharks that are killed each year for their fins.

“Not only is the process inhumane, but it also affects the natural balance of the oceanic ecosystem,” the governor said in a statement, adding that the state “will be doing its part to help preserve this important species and maintain a stable environment for them.”

New York is not a big shark-hunting state, but the law’s supporters say it will remove a major market for the fins and the soup they flavor, a salty broth often served at weddings and other banquets.

Patrick Kwan, the director of grass-roots organizing for the Humane Society of the United States, said he had eaten the soup as a child — “It’s almost like a rite of passage” — but hailed the governor’s decision.

“The situation with sharks is so dire and people see the cruelty that’s happened,” said Mr. Kwan, who likened the experience of the sharks to “having a limb cut off.”

Mr. Kwan added that while the process of “finning” — cutting off the shark’s fins and tossing the animal back in the water — was already illegal in waters off New York, those laws did not bar “the trade in shark fins within the state.”

New York is the second most populous state to ban the fins, after California, whose ban took effect earlier this month. All told, eight states have bans in effect. There is also international opposition: Last July, officials in China announced a ban on the soup at official banquets.

New York’s ban takes effect in July 2014, which should give restaurants and banquet halls enough time to use up their stockpiles of fins, which are dried and bleached for sale. Even so, some of the fins can be up to 30 inches tall, indicating that some very large sharks are being killed, Mr. Kwan said.

Tony Chen, a manager at Grand Harmony Palace, a restaurant on Mott Street, said the soup was usually only on the menu for expensive banquets, and not a staple of anyone’s diet. “We use less right now,” he said, “because not many people ask for it.”

A version of this article appeared in print on July 27, 2013, on page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Cuomo Signs Law Banning Shark Fin Sales, Signaling End of Popular Soup in Chinatown