LSAT 17 | Section 2 | Logical Reasoning: Q8

LR Question 8 Explanation

QUESTION TEXT: The fishing industry cannot currently be relied upon to…

QUESTION TYPE: Weaken

CONCLUSION: If the government wants an accurate count of how many seabirds are killed by fishermen then the government should institute a program where tissue samples of dead seabirds are examined for toxins.

REASONING: The fishers will have an incentive to hand in dead seabirds. They want to know if the fish they catch are contaminated by toxins (seabirds eat the toxic fish.)

Without an incentive the fishermen will not turn in dead birds. If it can be proven that they catch too many the government might restrict net fishing.

ANALYSIS: It’s easy to forget what’s important on this question. We care about the number of fish killed by fishermen. The story about the toxins is just designed to get the fishermen to hand over the birds.

___________

1. The government is just trying to count the total number of seabirds. The toxin measuring is just a ruse designed to get the fishers to hand over the birds.
2. CORRECT. If this were true then the fishers might only hand over a small number of birds. They would get what they want (toxin measurements) without letting the government know how many birds were killed.
3. Same as A. The government doesn’t care about toxins.
4. Same as A. The toxins aren’t relevant to how many birds the fishing industry kills.
5. Same as A. The toxins are irrelevant as long as the fishing industry is sufficiently concerned to hand over the birds.

Recap: The question begins with “The fishing industry cannot currently be relied upon to”. It is a Weaken question. Learn more about LSAT Weaken questions in our guide to LSAT Logical Reasoning question types.