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555-605 Level|   Evaluate Argument|   Weaken|               
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generis
In Cecropia, inspections of fishing boats that estimate the number of fish they are carrying are typically conducted upon their return to port. The high numbers so obtained have led the government to conclude that the coastal waters are being overfished. To allow commercial fishing stocks to recover, the government is considering introducing annual quotas on the number of fish that each fishing boat can catch. Compliance with the quotas would be determined by the established system of inspections.

Which of the following, if true, raises the most serious doubts about whether the government's proposed plan would succeed?


A) Some commercial fishing boats in Cecropia are large enough to catch their entire annual quota in only a few months of fishing.

B) The quotas would have to be reduced if more boats began fishing in Cecropia's coastal waters.

C) Because fish prices will rise if the quotas go into effect, it is unlikely that the quotas will significantly change the number of boats fishing Cecropia's coastal waters.

D) The procedure that inspectors use to estimate the number of fish a boat is carrying often results in a slight overcount.

E) Quotas encourage fishers to bring only the most commercially valuable fish into port and to discard less valuable fish, most of them dead or dying.

CR89820.02

OK we have to prove the plan( bolded in question) will fail to succeed its objective (allow fish stocks to recover)
A) The size of the boats won't change the quota restriction. >> no effect on objective
B)Ok what if reduced ? They are still likely to achieve the objective
C)Change in no. of boats have >> no effect on objective
D)Procedure of counting before and after quota is same >> no effect on objective

E) If fishers threw dead fish back for count to be in quota. Then the stock won't recover as expected by govt. Instead the dead fish are wasted for the sake of count.


Therefore OA:E
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In Cecropia, inspections of fishing boats that estimate the number of fish they are carrying are typically conducted upon their return to port. The high numbers so obtained have led the government to conclude that the coastal waters are being overfished. To allow commercial fishing stocks to recover, the government is considering introducing annual quotas on the number of fish that each fishing boat can catch. Compliance with the quotas would be determined by the established system of inspections.

Which of the following, if true, raises the most serious doubts about whether the government's proposed plan would succeed? [WEAKEN THE CONCLUSION]


A) Some commercial fishing boats in Cecropia are large enough to catch their entire annual quota in only a few months of fishing. -- As long as the quota is complied with, we don't worry about the duration of fishing

B) The quotas would have to be reduced if more boats began fishing in Cecropia's coastal waters. -- Same as A, IRRELEVANT. What must be done in future is not as issue here.

C) Because fish prices will rise if the quotas go into effect, it is unlikely that the quotas will significantly change the number of boats fishing Cecropia's coastal waters. -- No. of boats fishing in the coastal waters does matter as long as the no. of fishes caught comply with the quota

D) The procedure that inspectors use to estimate the number of fish a boat is carrying often results in a slight overcount. -- Slight overcount or margin of error is forgivable.

E) Quotas encourage fishers to bring only the most commercially valuable fish into port and to discard less valuable fish, most of them dead or dying. -- CORRECT. This option says that, to comply with the quota, fishers will discard the less valuable fish and leave it die while complying with the quota. Thus, overfishing is still happening, except that it is not accounted for, thus weakening the success of the plan

Answer is E
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This is the explanation I got from the official guide 2021 verbal book:
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Conclusion: [To allow commercial fishing stocks to recover,] the government is considering introducing annual quotas on the number of fish that each fishing boat can catch.

Which of the following, if true, raises the most serious doubts about whether the government's proposed plan would succeed?

A) Some commercial fishing boats in Cecropia are large enough to catch their entire annual quota in only a few months of fishing.
The timeframe in which these fishing boats would be able to catch the fish is irrelevant. These fishing boats would just catch them quicker and leave more quickly, allowing the fish to not be overfished (b/c of the gov’ts quotas.

B) The quotas would have to be reduced if more boats began fishing in Cecropia's coastal waters.
This doesn’t raise a DOUBT. This removes a doubt. More boats = even lower quota. Makes logical sense to be in line with the argument.

C) Because fish prices will rise if the quotas go into effect, it is unlikely that the quotas will significantly change the number of boats fishing Cecropia's coastal waters.
Doesn’t riase doubts. It almost confirms that “commercial fishing stocks [will]…recover.”

D) The procedure that inspectors use to estimate the number of fish a boat is carrying often results in a slight overcount.
The argument states that there are “high numbers” that have been caught. Thus, with the quota, the number should go down to normal levels. Even with a slight overcount, the numbers overall would have gone down, thus still not raising the most serious doubts.

E) Quotas encourage fishers to bring only the most commercially valuable fish into port and to discard less valuable fish, most of them dead or dying.
Okay this is it. The fish are still being caught at a high numbers, but instead of documenting a large number of the counts, they are caught, killed, and dumped off back into the ocean. This wouldn’t help the gov’ts goal of recovering commercial fishing stocks.
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AndrewN VeritasKarishma GMATNinja

Need your help here to figure out how E weakens.

Argument Analysis:-
1. Fish Count is done when boats return to port after fishing.
2. It was observed that coastal waters are being overfished because of high count at port.
3. Govt decided to impose annual quotas for each boat . Motive is to recover the commercial stocks.
4. There will be a designed methodology used for inspection.

Quote:
E) Quotas encourage fishers to bring only the most commercially valuable fish into port and to discard less valuable fish, most of them dead or dying.
Most commercially valuable fish is brought into port and less valuable is discarded. I understand this point. Since most valuable will raise the stocks, only such fish are brought.

How does this weaken when we say less valuable are discarded??
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I got this question wrong, and want to know the flaw in my reasoning.

I was confused between option A and B, and choose B.

the goal was Allow commercial fishing stocks to recover.

If fishes were taken out too quickly by boats/more number of boats started fishing then replenishment wont happen.

Also, Annual Quota word kind of played a part in the above decision making.
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Soham68
I got this question wrong, and want to know the flaw in my reasoning.

I was confused between option A and B, and choose B.

the goal was Allow commercial fishing stocks to recover.

If fishes were taken out too quickly by boats/more number of boats started fishing then replenishment wont happen.

Also, Annual Quota word kind of played a part in the above decision making.

Hi,

Answer choice B says proposed quota would have to be further lowered if more boats begin to fish.

What you are saying is more boats means more fishing. But answer choice B does not say this. It says quota (per boat) would be lowered even further, if need arises.

For the sake of simplicity let's say there were 10 boats and each boat accounting for 100 fishes as per proposed quota. Total 1000 fishes quota. Now let's say boats increase to 20 and each boat quota lowered to 50 fishes. So, that overall quota of 1000 fishes is not crossed. This way the plan still works. And therefore it nowhere hurts the plan.

Hope this helps a bit!
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