TEXT: Paragraph 5
Overfishing and overdiscarding may thus contribute to a syndrome known as “fishing down of food webs,” whereby we eliminate apex (top) predators and large species while transforming the ocean into a simplified system increasingly dominated by microbes, jellyfish, ocean-bottom invertebrates, plankton, and planktivores. The strongest evidence for the fishing down phenomenon exists in global catch statistics that show alarming shifts in species composition from high-value, near-bottom species to lower-value, open-ocean species. In the last three decades of the twentieth century, the global fishing fleet doubled in size and technology advanced immeasurably. Despite increased effort and technology, total catch stabilized, but landing rates (rates at which species are caught) of the most valuable species fell by 25 percent.
QUESTION 7:
Which of the sentences below best expresses the essential information in the highlighted sentence in paragraph 5? Incorrect choices change the meaning in important ways or leave out essential information.
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(A) Overfishing and overdiscarding of jellyfish, ocean-bottom invertebrates, plankton, and planktivores are transforming the ocean in a process known as fishing down of food webs.
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(B) Overdiscarding bycatch simplifies the food web by favoring the kinds of predators that feed on such prey as jellyfish, ocean-bottom invertebrates, and planktivores.
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(C) Fishing down of food webs may occur if overfishing and bycatch disposal result in the disappearance of species at the top of the food web and the dominance of species near the bottom.
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(D) Overfishing and overdiscarding is a syndrome that affects not only top predators and large species but also microbes, jellyfish, ocean-bottom invertebrates, plankton, and planktivores.
Answer: C)
C
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