A bowl of shark fin soup with abalone. Provided to China Daily

Texas could be the next state to ban the sale and trade of shark fins following similar prohibitions by New York and California.

The Texas State Senate sent a bill that would make it illegal to possess, buy, or sell shark fin, regardless of where the shark is caught, to Governor Greg Abbott on May 30. Abbott is expected to sign it by June 21, making Texas the first Gulf Coast state with a ban.

"We're very excited about the Texas bill going to the governor's desk," said Iris Ho, wildlife campaign manager at the Humane Society International. "The Gulf Coast area has one of the most active shark fisheries in the US, so we're very happy to see this trend of shark protection through prohibition of shark fins. It's spreading in the region, starting in Texas."

Once it becomes law, it would take effect July 1, 2016, and anybody caught buying or selling shark fins could be fined a maximum of $2,000 or face 180 days in jail.

In addition to California and New York, shark finning is banned in Hawaii, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Delaware, Illinois and Massachusetts. Texas became a bigger market for shark fins after other coastal states began prohibiting the trade, Ho said.

"We have found that Texas has emerged as a trade hub for shark fins in the US, most likely due to the fact that a lot of the coastal states have now closed their markets for shark fins," she said. "That development has contributed to the fact that Texas's growth of trade in the US, and that's why it's particularly encouraging that we're closing this hub of fin trade in the US."

Ho said that it is hard to track where the shark fins come from before they enter the US, because the government doesn't have a system in place to track the movement of shark fins throughout the trade chain.

The most recent state ban on shark fin trading was passed in March in New Jersey. The ban in New York, formerly one of the biggest markets for the animal fins, went into effect in July last year.

Shark fins are a delicacy often consumed by the Chinese in soups, though they don't have any nutritional value or distinctive taste. Some cooks have created shark-fin alternatives using seaweed or vermicelli.

"People use it during banquets and weddings because they want to be able to - for the lack of a better term - show off. So if it's illegal to do so and you can't show off, what's the point of it?" Patrick Kwan, former New York director at the Human Society, told China Daily.

The shark fin industry generates about $400 million to $550 million a year, according to figures from the Pew Environment Group, though exact numbers are hard to produce since much of the trade is conducted illegally.

The price range for shark fins is between $30 to $800 a pound, and shark fin soups served in Chinese restaurants can cost as much as $100 a bowl.

China is the world's largest consumer of shark fin, but the government has taken steps to reduce consumption, such as banning it from government banquets.