Md. Senate committee to hear shark fin ban bill

ANNAPOLIS — A bill to ban shark fin sales in Maryland is to be heard by a Senate committee in Annapolis.

The Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee is scheduled to hear testimony Tuesday afternoon. A House committee heard testimony on a similar bill last week.

Shark fins are an Asian delicacy, and fins are often cut from sharks at sea, where they are thrown back to die. Environmentalists say overfishing is threatening a number of shark species. A number of states have already banned shark fins sales and several others are considering bans.

Maryland already bans cutting sharks into pieces at sea, according to an analysis prepared for lawmakers which said watermen harvested nearly $1 million in shark last year, mostly spiny dogfish, which are typically sold whole.