MIAMI—The United States is poised to ban the lucrative trade in shark fins, a move conservationists hope will help protect millions of sharks that are butchered every year to satisfy demand in China and other parts of Asia.
The practice of shark finning, whereby sharks are caught for their fins and their carcasses then dumped back into the ocean, has been banned in U.S. waters for decades. But the United States remains a major hub for the brisk trade where the fins of as many as 73 million sharks are cut off around the world each year.
The House and Senate passed identical versions of the proposed ban as part of a broader defense spending bill that President Joe Biden is expected to sign into law. Once he does, it will be illegal for Americans to buy, sell, transport, or even possess foreign-caught fins—something ocean conservation activists have long sought….