Get your scroll finger ready. We're going for a really depressing ride.
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay — who, as a cook, is accustomed to seeing animals slaughtered for food — once described shark-fin hunting as "without a doubt the worst act of animal cruelty [he's] ever seen." The practice, commonly called "finning," contributes significantly to the estimated 100-million sharks killed by humans annually, and, conservationists think, the decline of major ocean ecosystems.
100-million can be a hard number to wrap your head around, so Joe Chernov decided to approach acclaimed graphic designer Robin Richards about creating an infographic that would help drive the point home. Writes Chernov on his blog:
I shared my idea for a graphic that did one thing: exposed the outrageous ratio of the number of people sharks kill to the number of sharks people kill. We riffed on a few ideas, Robin mocked up some comps, which we refined together. Then he did what he always does: he nailed it.
We're inclined to agree. Check out the full infographic below. To learn more about finning and help curb its practice, visit any of the organizations listed in the graphic's footer:
[J.Chernov via I Love Charts]