The Bahamas has announced a ban on shark fishing, becoming the latest country to protect the ancient sea predator which is considered at risk due to demand for its fins in Chinese cuisine.

The Atlantic Ocean archipelago said it was banning the commercial fishing of sharks in its 243,000 square miles of water, along with the sale, import or export of shark products.

“People say, ‘Why are you supporting sharks? They just eat people and eat other fish.’ But in fact there’s a lot more to sharks than that,” said Neil McKinney, presid-ent of the Bahamas National Trust, which manages the country’s resources.

“They desperately need protection if we’re not going to drive them to extinction,” he told reporters in the capital Nassau, pointing to the “extremely important” role that sharks play in balancing the ecosystem.

The US-based Pew Environment group has campaigned around the world to encourage shark protection. Before The Bahamas, Honduras, Maldives and Palau have also declared sanctuaries for sharks.

Environmentalists say that around 73 million sharks are killed each year, generally by hacking off their fins, which can fetch lucrative prices as they are served in Chinese soups as a deli-cacy.

The Bahamas counts tourism as a major industry and a recent study found that shark diving was already worth $80 million a year, a figure the government hopes will rise once the ban comes into force.