Shark Finning: The Persuasive Speech Against Shark Finning

Shark Finning

General Purpose: To persuade the audience to support laws against shark finning.

Specific Purpose: To persuade the audience to go online and sign a petition to help stop shark killings and to support the entire Racing Extinction cause in order to save species around the world from going extinct.

INTRODUCTION

A. Attention Gainer: For the attention gainer, I plan on showing the audience a two minute and thirty second video in order to display the tragic events that are happening around the world regarding shark killings. My attention gainer will enable the audience to become aware of the situation as well as invoke a serious and potentially sad mood in the classrooms, before I begin to touch on the terrible situation we have

Information (sub-point): Shark finning affects the shark most clearly on an individualistic scale. The removal of the shark’s fins makes it nearly impossible for the shark to swim once it is dumped back into the ocean. According to author William J Bennetta, many species of sharks, known as “obligate ram ventilators”, lack the ability to pump water through their gills if they are not constantly moving, and “presumably asphyxiate if unable to move” (Bennetta, 1996). Along with all the cuts, gashes, and beatings that come along with shark finning, most sharks that undergo finning die a very long and painful death due to loss of blood and suffocation.

2. Information (sub-point): Shark finning also has also drastically negatively affected the entire shark population. According to SharkSavers.org, “Shark populations face the threat of extinction in every part of the world primarily due to overfishing driven by the high demand for shark fins” (SharkSavers, 2013). It is also found that the global shark population has decreased by a drastic 90% over the last 50 years, and if change does not occur quickly, the entire shark population could potentially disappear

Information (sub-point): The solution to the problem of shark finning is to sign petitions and force the government to pass legislature that will ban shark finning, as well as ban the import of shark fins. In 2000, Bill Clinton signed the Shark Finning Prohibition Act of 2000 (SFPA), which “banned finning on any fishing vessel within United States territorial waters, and on all U.S.-flagged fishing vessels in international waters” (Speigel, 2011). Currently, it is also illegal to hunt sharks in many parts around the world due to various restrictions set by other government, but it is not illegal to import and sell shark fins. Finding shark fins in the US can be as easy as walking into an Asian restaurant and ordering shark fin soup. If we truly want to make a difference, and see a rise in the shark populations around the world, we need to ban the sell and trade of shark fins