Reading Comprehension

PT153 · S1 · P2 · Q11 Fish Farming

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A recent worldwide decline of ocean fishery stocks has stimulated rapid growth in cultivated production of fish and shellfish, usually known as fish farming.

Topic

The impact of fish farming on global ocean fishery stocks

Framework

Problem / Solution

Main Point

While fish farming has grown rapidly and seems like a solution to declining wild fish stocks, it is also part of the problem due to pollution, ecological disruption, and heavy reliance on wild fish as feed. So, fish farming is both potentially helpful and harmful for ocean fisheries. (The "Most Valuable Sentence" appears at the end of the first paragraph: )

P1: The Rise and Paradox of Fish Farming

Fish farming is booming as ocean fisheries decline and now supplies a large portion of seafood eaten by people. Some believe it could save wild fish stocks, but there’s not much proof—it might help, but could also make things worse.

P2: Environmental Impacts of Intensive Fish Farming

High-density fish farming can cause big problems: it pollutes waterways, spreads diseases, and lets non-native species escape, all of which can hurt wild fish populations and damage natural habitats.

P3: Reliance on Wild Fish as Feed

Many farmed fish, especially carnivores like salmon, need to eat a lot of wild fish to grow—often more than the resulting harvest. This means that farming some species puts even more pressure on wild fish stocks.

11.

The views put forward in the passage conform most closely to which one of the following principles governing new methods of food production?

  1. They should be employed only

    Bad Evidence Match

    The contrapositive of this is saying, if a new method of food production results then that new food in major changes in → production method consumer demand shouldn't be used for traditional foods This trigger doesn't match any of the complaints the author made. In fact, we might consider consumers' switching from wild cod and haddock to farmed tilapia and catfish to be a major change in consumer demand, and that was actually one of the things the author liked about fish farming.

    3% picked this

  2. They should be employed if

    Bad Evidence Match

    This rule says: if a new method of food production then that new is more economically → food production efficient and method should won't result in be used business failures or lost jobs This trigger doesn't match either of the compliments the author made. In particular, she never talked about whether businesses would fail or jobs would be lost as a result of fish farming. Also, it would be peculiar if we ended up picking a principle that says "we should employ this new method", since it felt the author overall has more misgivings than encouragement.

    3% picked this

  3. Correct

    They should not be employed

    Why this is right

    This rule says: if a new method of food production will then that new food ultimately result in → production method net decrease of should not be used that type of food This trigger matches the discussion in the 3rd paragraph, in which we learned that it takes between 1.9 - 5 kg of wild fish to get 1 kg of farmed fish. Based on that input / output ratio, the practice of fish farming is resulting in a net decrease of fish. Of course, this answer is being a little bit "cute" in the sense that if a fish farm's type of food produced is understood as salmon, then it's not fair to say that fish farming salmon results in a net decrease in salmon produced. But if you define this simply as fish, then the author did establish that fish farming will result in a net decrease in fish (as a product in human markets, not on the planet).

    Skill tested: Principle · how this choice captures the passage's function is the move to repeat next time.

    42% picked this

  4. They should be employed if

    Bad Evidence Match

    This rule says: if a new method of food production then that new food promotes food → production method diversification should be used and brings about environmental improvement This trigger doesn't match either of the compliments the author made. The author mentioned that people would switch from wild cod/haddock to farmed tilapia/catfish. But swapping these 2 for those 2 isn't really diversifying the types of food available for consumption. And the author definitely does not think that fish farming improves the environment. To the contrary, the 2nd paragraph told us that fish farming has some bad effects on the environment. Also, it would be peculiar if we ended up picking a principle that says "we should employ this new method", since it felt the author overall has more misgivings than encouragement when it comes to this new method.

    29% picked this

  5. They should be employed only

    Bad Evidence Match

    The contrapositive of this is saying, if a new method of food production doesn't then that new food replace other method → production method that had undesirable should not be used ecological effects This trigger doesn't match any of the complaints the author made. She never said, "ocean fishing didn't have any undesirable ecological effects, thus fish farming should not be employed". The author speaks of fish farming relieving pressure on wild fishery stocks, so it's implied that wild fishing was putting pressure on wild fishery stocks (an undesirable ecological effect). In fact, it may even be that wild fishing has contributed to the worldwide decline of ocean fishery stocks, which is an undesirable ecological effect.

    23% picked this

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