Q6 - Shortly after the power plant

[kfitz]

We are tasked with finding 4 answers that explain the decrease in total fish count and 1 answer that does not explain the decrease.

I seek help in correcting my original thought process when deciding between options C and D.

While C proposes an increase in anglers, D proposes a decrease in anglers. My initial thoughts: more anglers = less fish, as more anglers will catch more fish & the fish population will decrease vs. less anglers = the same amount or more of fish, as the fish population will either remain constant or increase.

I think that my problem has to do with the timeline -- the change in fish population as a result of more/less anglers would take time to occur. The only indicator of time between the Stimulus & choices C & D is "shortly after". What should we reasonably assume constitutes "shortly after"?

C makes sense to me as an answer choice only if I assume "shortly after" is equivalent to immediately after. Because immediately after, the fish population has not yet been affected enough by the changing numbers of anglers.

Any thoughts/suggestions are most welcome!

[julia.lynch]

I had trouble with this question as well and would love some help on this one!

[maryadkins]

Tricky one!

So the key here is to realize precisely what decreased. It's not that bass decreased, overall. It's that the number of the CAUGHT BY ANGLERS decreased. (C) doesn't make sense to explain this because if MORE anglers were showing up, you'd think they'd catch MORE, not less. (D) explains it because if there are fewer of them there, well, that's why they're catching less!

Hope this helps.

[kfitz]

So simple! Thank you. Now to focus on not overlooking ANY of the words in the stimulus...!

[ehampton]

Hi now i'm confused isn't the correct answer C, not D.

[maryadkins]

Yes. (C) is correct. But this is an explain EXCEPT question, so the correct answer choice does NOT explain the phenomenon. Since (C) does NOT explain it, it is correct. (D) does explain it, so it is incorrect.

As for the other incorrect choices:

(A) explains why there would be fewer bass. The wastewater attracts predators.

(B) explains it because the wastewater sent them elsewhere.

(E) explains it because the wastewater destroyed their habitat.