In Cecropia inspections of fishing boats that estimate the number of

Fishing boats are inspected to estimate number of fish carried.

Problem: High numbers are being obtained so the Govt believes overfishing is going on.

Plan: The government is considering introducing annual quotas on the number of fish that each boat can catch.
The system of inspection will determine if quota is being adhered to.

Aim: Allow commercial fishing stocks to recover. (to allow commercial fish population to recover)

We need to weaken that the plan will achieve its aim.

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

Irrelevant. So some boats are too large for the lower quota that will be established. Doesn't matter. The fish population will recover.

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

If more boats come, quotas will need to be reduced further. It doesn't weaken the current plan.

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.

If fewer fish are allowed, their price will rise. Hence overall profit for the boats may not decrease much and hence the number of boats fishing may stay the same. That works. The current quota limits must be calculated based on current fishing boat numbers. If the number will not change, number of boats are not expected to increase either and that works for our plan too.

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

Irrelevant. A slight overcount is better for the plan of helping fish recover.

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.

This is not good for the plan. Quotas encourage fishers to discard less valuable fish, most of them dead. This means quotas will not be adhered to in intent. The boats will catch a lot more fish than the quota allows and discard the cheaper ones. This would not hamper the plan if the fish sent back to the waters were alive. The population would recover. But if the fish discarded are dead, then in principle, a lot more fish than the quota allows would be 'killed and discarded' or 'consumed'. Then the population of the fish may not recover because much more than the quota will be removed from the population.
Hence this weakens our plan.

Answer (E)