Malaysia's Berjaya Hotels and Resorts removed shark fin soup off their menu, joining the ranks of marine conservationists and hotel groups to protect the fast disappearing fish.

"I believe a trend is emerging... and if we all wait for each other (to stop eating shark fin soup) by the time peer pressure gets going, it might be too late," Berjaya Land Berhad executive director Leong Wy Joon said on Sunday when announcing that the group would stop serving shark fin soup in all its 18 hotels and resorts worldwide.

Hong Kong-based Shangri-la Hotel and the Peninsula Hotels Groups had earlier this year stopped serving the Asian delicacy, which involves the killing of sharks.

An estimated of 73 million sharks are killed every year to feed a billion doar shark fin industry.

Shark populations worldwide are also believed to have dwindled by 90 percent in the past five decades, prompting authorities such as the Illinois state government in the United States to ban the sale, trade and distribution of shark fins.