Re: Tiger sharks are common in the waters surrounding Tenare Island. Usual
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02 Jun 2022, 20:21
First, let's use the question stem to help figure out how to solve this problem:
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?
Ok, so what is the desired consequence of the plan? The best clue is in the passage's last sentence:
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.
So if we want weaken the argument, we need information that indicates that the plan to kill all the sharks will not help the economy. What do we know about the economy? Well, in the passage it says, the "tourism industry, is second only to its fishing industry in annual revenues." So both the tourism and fishing industries are important for the economy. Also, since the fishing industry has higher annual revenues, affecting it will have a bigger impact on the economy.
Now, let's look at the answer choices:
(A) Even if not all the tiger sharks that come close to the beaches are killed, the existence of the program would reassure tourists.
This strengthens the argument.
(B) Business owners who depend on tourism are willing to pay most of the cost of implementing the program.
Will this help the economy? Who knows?
(C) Tourists come to Tenare Island for its beaches, even though the island features a number of other tourist attractions.
We are not concerned with the island's features, only the economy.
(D) The small sharks on which tiger sharks prey feed on fish that are commercially important to the island's fisheries.
Tiger sharks eat smaller sharks. Smaller sharks eat fish. Less tiger sharks means more smaller sharks eating the fish. This means there might be less fish for the fishermen. Disrupting the fishing industry by reducing the fish supply could definitely harm the economy.
(E) Not all tourists who come to Tenare Island enjoy swimming or surfing.
What percentage of tourists don't enjoy swimming or surfing? Too little information to make a judgement about the plan achieving the "desired outcome."