Fising industry

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Fising industry

by max37274 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:41 am
The fishing industry cannot currently be relied upon to help the government count the seabirds killed by net fishing, since an accurate count might result in restriction of net fishing. The government should therefore institute a program under which tissue samples from the dead birds are examined to determine the amount of toxins in the fish eaten by the birds. The industry would then have a reason to turn in the bird carcasses, since the industry needs to know whether the fish it catches are contaminated with toxins.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) The seabirds that are killed by net fishing do not eat all of the species of fish caught by the fishing industry
(B) The government has not in the past sought to determine whether fish were contaminated with toxins by examining tissue samples of seabirds
(C) The government cannot gain an accurate count of the number of seabirds killed by net fishing unless the fishing industry cooperates
(D) If the government knew that fish caught by the fishing industry were contaminated by toxins, the government would restrict net fishing
(E) If net fishing were restricted by the government, then the fishing industry ¡¡¡¡would become more inclined to reveal the number of seabirds killed by net fishing.

Which one of the following, if true, most strongly indicates that the government program would not by itself provide an accurate count of the seabirds killed by net fishing?

(A) The seabirds killed by net fishing might be contaminated with several different toxins even if the birds eat only one kind of fish
(B) The fishing industry could learn whether the fish it catches are contaminated with toxins if only a few of the seabirds killed by the nets were examined
(C) The government could gain valuable information about the source of toxins by examining tissue samples of the seabirds caught in the nets.
(D) The fish caught in a particular net might be contaminated with the same toxins as those in the seabirds caught in that net.
(E) The government would be willing to certify that the fish caught by the industry are not contaminated with toxins if tests done on the seabirds showed no contamination
Source: — Critical Reasoning |

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by sumanr84 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:38 am
max37274 wrote:The fishing industry cannot currently be relied upon to help the government count the seabirds killed by net fishing, since an accurate count might result in restriction of net fishing. The government should therefore institute a program under which tissue samples from the dead birds are examined to determine the amount of toxins in the fish eaten by the birds. The industry would then have a reason to turn in the bird carcasses, since the industry needs to know whether the fish it catches are contaminated with toxins.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?
Max, I see that your posts in CR sections are extremely difficult and I doubt anyone can solve in 2 mins.

Coming to the Argument, I see that the argument goes in two directions.
1. first part, talks about seabirds getting killed in net fishing
2. second part, talks about toxins
underline part is little ambiguous, how can someone conclude whether the testing is done on seabirds caught in the net or otherwise not mentioned in the argument.
Also, the red part of the argument is taking the argument away from its intent and instead trying to bring a new conclusion.

In summary, I am completely confused !!
I am on a break !!

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by fibbonnaci » Wed Feb 17, 2010 4:42 am
for the first strengthen question:
Lets break the stimulus into pieces that can be joined as Lego kits to our fancy :)

Conclusion: The government should institute a program that examines the toxin present in the fishes that are consumed by birds in the bird's carcass.[ i was just being technical. to cut the crap! government instituted some program that will make fisherman get in more bird carcass]

Premise: Fisherman generally will not give accurate account of the count fearing restriction.

now what is the assumption: the government is hard bent on getting info from them only. why? is this the only industry they can rely on to get the info?
another assumption is fisherman will be interested to know how toxic their fishes are.

Now we have all the instruments required to perform the surgery on the answer choices. wear ur gloves. lets go![sorry for the weird technical jargons i am throwing in. i am writing this post, right after a technical presentation]

(A) The seabirds that are killed by net fishing do not eat all of the species of fish caught by the fishing industry [ let the birds not eat all the species of fish. why are we implementing this program? not to analyse the fish but to get the head count of killed birds in disguise. Eliminated!]

(B) The government has not in the past sought to determine whether fish were contaminated with toxins by examining tissue samples of seabirds [what they have done in the past, is it revelant to us now. Eliminated]

(C) The government cannot gain an accurate count of the number of seabirds killed by net fishing unless the fishing industry cooperates [Bingo! here this is. we have our assumption stated blatantly here. now if government cannot get accurate account unless this industry co operates, then it makes sense to disguise the program in such a way that we get the results what we want.]

(D) If the government knew that fish caught by the fishing industry were contaminated by toxins, the government would restrict net fishing [this is again not related to conclusion of why the program at all. it does not address the program at all. Eliminated!]

(E) If net fishing were restricted by the government, then the fishing industry would become more inclined to reveal the number of seabirds killed by net fishing. [this is a weakener. this infact tells us that program infact is not needed. without the program, we get results. Eliminated!]

The next question i will answer in my next post.
i sign off with my traditional signature - hope this helps [and i really mean this sentence!! :)]

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by fibbonnaci » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:12 am
Now we are talking about the exact opposite. we need to weaken the conclusion. we need to show a reason to say that the program initiated will not be successful.

(A) The seabirds killed by net fishing might be contaminated with several different toxins even if the birds eat only one kind of fish [ let the sea birds be contaminated with any toxins. the govt is interested to find the head count. This choice does not tell why the program is not effective. Eliminated]

(B) The fishing industry could learn whether the fish it catches are contaminated with toxins if only a few of the seabirds killed by the nets were examined [Bingo! if the fishing industry can learn with a small sample then what is the necessary for them to keep getting the samples always. My answer]

(C) The government could gain valuable information about the source of toxins by examining tissue samples of the seabirds caught in the nets. [is govt performing a toxicology study? it is interested in head count. Eliminated!]

(D) The fish caught in a particular net might be contaminated with the same toxins as those in the seabirds caught in that net. [same reason as C. Eliminated!]

(E) The government would be willing to certify that the fish caught by the industry are not contaminated with toxins if tests done on the seabirds showed no contamination [what is a certification program doing over here. Eliminated!]

Hope this helps!

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by fibbonnaci » Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:18 am
Max, I see that your posts in CR sections are extremely difficult and I doubt anyone can solve in 2 mins.

Coming to the Argument, I see that the argument goes in two directions.
1. first part, talks about seabirds getting killed in net fishing
2. second part, talks about toxins
underline part is little ambiguous, how can someone conclude whether the testing is done on seabirds caught in the net or otherwise not mentioned in the argument.
Also, the red part of the argument is taking the argument away from its intent and instead trying to bring a new conclusion.

In summary, I am completely confused !!

what the argument is trying to tell is, if the government initiates some procedure that tests the toxicity of fishes consumed in the birds, fisherman would bring the bird carcass caught in their net to get it evaluated. This way the procedure in duisguise could actually help the govt to realize the head count of the birds caught.

Hope i have cleared ur doubt.

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by komal » Wed Feb 17, 2010 9:22 am
max37274 wrote:The fishing industry cannot currently be relied upon to help the government count the seabirds killed by net fishing, since an accurate count might result in restriction of net fishing. The government should therefore institute a program under which tissue samples from the dead birds are examined to determine the amount of toxins in the fish eaten by the birds. The industry would then have a reason to turn in the bird carcasses, since the industry needs to know whether the fish it catches are contaminated with toxins.

Which one of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument?

(A) The seabirds that are killed by net fishing do not eat all of the species of fish caught by the fishing industry
(B) The government has not in the past sought to determine whether fish were contaminated with toxins by examining tissue samples of seabirds
(C) The government cannot gain an accurate count of the number of seabirds killed by net fishing unless the fishing industry cooperates
(D) If the government knew that fish caught by the fishing industry were contaminated by toxins, the government would restrict net fishing
(E) If net fishing were restricted by the government, then the fishing industry ¡¡¡¡would become more inclined to reveal the number of seabirds killed by net fishing.


To put it simply, the argument here assumes that the govt.'s project (finding the number of seabirds killed by net fishing) cannot live without the fishing industry. Their project will not see the light of the day until the fishing industry chips in. To strengthen the argument we need to find an answer choice that supports this assumption. Answer choice (C) does that for us by stating that the govt's mission cannot be accomplished unless the fishing industry co operates. Hence (C) is the right choice.

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by analyst218 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:12 pm
1st : C
2nd: B

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by analyst218 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 12:14 pm
1st : C
2nd: B

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by max37274 » Wed Feb 17, 2010 2:32 pm
Thanks a lot

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by mmon » Wed Feb 17, 2010 8:50 pm
awesome explanation fibbonnaci. Thanks much