Several New York state assembly representatives have introduced a bill banning the possession, importation and distribution of shark fins—and it sounds like it might actually pass.

Scientists estimate that up to 73 million sharks are killed annually to satisfy the appetite for shark fin soup, leading some species to the brink of extinction and depleting oceans of a key ecosystem predator. Since the fin is so much more valuable than the rest of the shark, fishermen often slice it off and push the still-writhing shark back into the sea to die, although many governments ban the practice.

Congratulations to state reps Alan Maisel, Linda B. Rosenthal and Grace Meng for taking this big step toward environmental sanity.

In other aqua news, an international team of scientists is proposing that dolphins are so intelligent, we should legally and ethically consider them “non-human persons.”

Dr Thomas White, ethics expert at Loyola Marymount University in California, said…”The science has shown that individuality, consciousness, self awareness is no longer a unique human property. That poses all kinds of challenges.”

As I’ve often argued on this blog, our growing understanding of animal intelligence and identity is going to create one of the great existential crises of the 21st century, as humans come to terms with the genocide of animals inflicted not for the sake of survival—i.e, food or self-defense—but just out of carelessness and stupidity.

Which is to say, the more we come to know about animal intelligence, the more we will be forced to acknowledge the shortcomings of our own..