Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare Island. Usually tiger sharks feed on smaller sharks, but sometimes they have attacked tourists swimming and surfing at Tenare's beaches. This has hurt Tenare's tourism industry, which is second only to its fishing industry in annual revenues. In order to help the economy, therefore, the mayor of the island has proposed an ongoing program to kill any tiger sharks within a mile of the beaches.
Which of the following, if true, most strongly calls into question the likelihood that implementation of the mayor's proposal will have the desired consequence?
(A) Even if not all the tiger sharks that come close to the beaches are killed, the existence of the program would reassure tourists.
(B) Business owners who depend on tourism are willing to pay most of the cost of implementing the program.
(C) Tourists come to Tenare Island for its beaches, even though the island features a number of other tourist attractions.
(D) The small sharks on which tiger sharks prey feed on fish that are commercially important to the island's fisheries.
(E) Not all tourists who come to Tenare Island enjoy swimming or surfing.
OA D
Source: GMAT Prep
Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare
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The mayor's "desired consequence" is "to help the economy". So we want a reason this proposal will not help the economy. We know tourism is important to the economy, but fishing is even more important. While this proposal may help tourism, if there's a reason it might hurt fishing, it might not benefit the economy overall. Answer D is the only answer that tells us that the fishing industry might be adversely affected if tiger sharks are killed, so D is the right answer.
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