#12 - Global Reference, Must Be True, Author's Perspective

[Administrator]

Please post your questions below!

[ser219]

Where is the support for D in the passage? Also, I originally picked A because of the sentence "For the ten species of fish most commonly farmed, an average of 1.9 kilograms of wild fish is required for every kilogram of fish produced." Why is A wrong?

[Jeremy Press]

Hi ser,

There's a pretty subtle problem with answer choice A. First, some of the fish in fisheries seem to require fish not as direct food but as a source of nutrients. See lines 33-34, which refers to requiring fish oil "to supply fatty acids." It's not entirely clear this means simply feeding the fish to the farmed fish populations. Second, later on in the same paragraph, it's clear that some fish being farmed are not carnivorous. See lines 39-43, "Of the ten species, only three—catfish, milkfish, and carp—require less fish input than is eventually harvested, while the farming of carnivorous species like salmon has a very high input-to-output ratio." Here the author means very clearly to distinguish catfish, milkfish, and carp from "carnivorous species," which means farmed catfish, milkfish, and carp populations must be using fish input for other purposes than directly eating them. Given this distinction, we cannot tell whether "most" farmed fish would fall into the carnivorous or the non-carnivorous populations.

The support for answer choice D is in the final paragraph. Lines 50-52 support the idea that market forces can discourage overfishing in the ocean: "For example, increasing the farm production of fish like salmon can reduce prices, deterring investment in fishing fleets and, over time, reducing fishing efforts." Lines 55-59 support the idea that market forces can encourage overfishing in the ocean: "Nonetheless, even these benefits may in the end be lost because niche markets have started to develop for several species of wild-caught fish, causing their catch rates to remain high." This also fits the theme of paradox stated at the end of the first paragraph: "The complexity of production systems leads to an underlying paradox: fish farming is a possible solution, but also a potential contributing factor, to the continued decline of ocean fishery stocks worldwide."

I hope this helps!

Jeremy

[gooodshiit]

Hello!

I still have one little question about AC D: I understand that lines 55-59 provides evidence for how market forces can encourage overfishing of ocean fisheries, but I don't understand how 50-52 can provide evidence for discouragement.

I am confused about how increasing the farm production of fish can count as a market force? Will somebody be willing to explain?

Thanks!

[Jeremy Press]

Hi there,

Increasing farm production of fish is a market force, because it affects the market. As the passage says, it affects the market by reducing prices and deterring investments in fishing fleets. Anything that has an effect on the market (by changing prices or changing commercial behaviors) is by definition a market force. That's enough to make lines 50-52 a description of a market force.

I hope this helps!