Nhận biết (M1)

Accurately measuring the sizes of marine fish populations is challenging because predation, reproduction, and fishing are constantly affecting those populations' numbers. To avoid overfishing, many commercial fishers rely on complex computer models that estimate current and historical fish population sizes. These models incorporate various biological factors, such as fish size, age, maturation, and reproductive rate. Recently, a team of researchers compared decades of model predictions for 230 major commercially fished species. They discovered that the models often overestimated fish population sizes. And contrary to their expectations, the researchers found that accuracy did not improve as the data grew over time. The team's discovery most directly suggests that __________

Which choice most logically completes the text?

• A.

  it is important to incorporate more diverse data sources, including commercial fishers' observations, into population size models.

• B.

  researchers should be cautious when considering findings about commercially fished populations that predate the development of the models.

• C.

  some commercial fishers have likely been unknowingly overfishing and may need to decrease their catches going forward.

• D.

  environmental factors, rather than commercial fishing, are primarily responsible for declines in fish populations.