ALBANY — New York is banning the trade in shark fins starting next summer in an effort to protect them.

Gov. Cuomo, who signed the law yesterday, says an estimated 73 million sharks are killed a year worldwide.

The fins are used in soup popular in Chinese cuisine.

So-called “finning” of sharks — catching them, cutting off their fins and returning them to the water — is already illegal in US and New York coastal waters.

Cuomo calls the practice inhumane and says it also upsets ecosystems by eliminating the predators.