READING – WRITING B2

TIMED READING PRACTICE

Examining the Problem of Bycatch

1. A topic of increasing relevance to the conservation of marine life is bycatch – fish and
other animals that are unintentionally caught in the process of fishing for a targeted
population of fish. Bycatch is a common occurrence in longline fishing, which utilizes a
long heavy fishing line with baited hooks placed at intervals, and in trawling, which
utilizes a fishing net (trawl) that is dragged along the ocean floor or through the mid-ocean
waters. Few fisheries employ gear that can catch one species to the exclusion of all others.
Dolphins, whales, and turtles are frequently captured in nets set for tunas and billfishes,
and seabirds and turtles are caught in longline sets. Because bycatch often goes unreported,
it is difficult to accurately estimate its extent. Available data indicate that discarded
biomass (organic matter from living things) amounts to 25-30 percent of official catch, or
about 30 million metric tons.

2. The bycatch problem is particularly acute when trawl nets with small mesh sizes (smaller-
than-average holes in the net material) are dragged along the bottom of the ocean in pursuit
of groundfish or shrimp. Because of the small mesh size of the shrimp trawl nets, most of
the fishes captured are either juveniles (young), smaller than legal size limits, or
undersirable small species. Even larger mesh sizes do not prevent bycatch because once
the net begins to fill with fish or shrimp, small individuals caught subsequently are trapped
without ever encountering the mesh. In any case, these incidental captures are
unmarketable and are usually shoveled back over the side of the vessel dead or dying.

3. The bycatch problem is complicated economically and ecologically. Bycatch is a liability

to shrimp fishers, clogging the nets and increasing fuel costs because of increased drag
(resistance) on the vessel. Sorting the catch requires time, leading to spoilage of harvested
shrimp and reduced time for fishing. Ecologically, high mortality rates among juvenile
fishes could contribute to population declines of recreational and commercial species.
Evidence to this effect exists for Gulf of Mexico red snapper and Atlantic Coast weakfish.
Because the near-shore areas where shrimp concentrate are also important nursery grounds
for many fish species, shrimp trawling could have a profound impact on stock size.

4. Once the dead or dying bycatch is returned to the ecosystem, it is consumed by predators,
detritivores (organisms that eat dead plant and animal matter), and decomposers
(organisms that break down dead or decaying organic matter), which could have a positive
effect on sport fish, seabird, crab, and even shrimp populations. Available evidence
indicates that 40-60 percent of the 30 metric tons of catch discarded annually by
commercial fishing vessels, and even more of the noncatch waste (organisms killed but
never brought to the surface), does not lie unused on the bottom of the sea. It becomes
available to midwater and ocean-bottom scavengers, transferring material into their food
web and making energy available to foragers (organisms that search for food) that is
normally tied up in ocean-bottom, deep-ocean, midwater, and open-ocean species.

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.

6. Conservation organizations have condemned the obvious and extreme waste associated
with bycatch. Public concern over high mortality rates of endangered marine turtles
captured in shrimp trawls led to the development of turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) in the
1980s. TEDs were incorporated into the shrimp net design with the purpose of directing
turtles out of nets without unacceptably reducing shrimp catches. Marine engineers and
fishers also developed shrimp net designs that incorporate bycatch reduction devices
(BRDs), taking advantage of behavioral differences between shrimp and fish, or between
different fishes, in order to separate fishes.

Read the passage carefully and choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).

1. Why does the author provide the information that “Available data indicate that discarded
biomass (organic matter from living things) amounts to 25-30 percent of official catch, or
about 30 million metric tons”?
A. To disprove the claim that it is difficult to accurately estimate the extent of the bycatch
problem
B. To illustrate the extreme effectiveness of the longline and trawling methods
C. To suggest that uncertainty about the true extent of bycatch does not leave in doubt
that it is a problem
D. To indicate that data about bycatch are available only from fisheries having the right
kind of gear

2. According to paragraph 1, which of the following is true about the impact of various
methods of fishing on the problem of bycatch?
A. Almost all commercial fishing methods capture fish and animals that the fishers do
not want.
B. Switching from trawling to longline fishing would save seabirds and turtles from
being unintentionally caught.
C. Longline fishing is particularly dangerous for dolphins and whales.
D. Trawling on the ocean floor produces less bycatch than does trawling through mid-
ocean waters.

3. The word “acute” in the passage is closest in meaning to

A. common
B. severe
C. complicated
D. noticeable

4. According to paragraph 2, why have larger mesh sizes not provided a practical solution to
bycatch in shrimp fishing?
A. Larger openings increase the risk that nets will get tangled or damaged as they are
being hauled over the sides of the vessel.
 B. Openings large enough to prevent the capture of juvenile and other undesirable fish
would also release the shrimp.
C. Large mesh sizes are more likely to result in fish getting stuck partway through,
causing more deaths within the catch.
D. When nets grow full, they still trap fish that cannot reach the mesh openings.

5. According to paragraph 3, which of the following is NOT a problem associated with

bycatch in shrimp fishing?
A. Shrimp fishers have to buy more fuel because of the added weight of the extra fish in
their nets.
B. The population of recreational and commercial species declines because much of the
bycatch is their prey, resulting in a food shortage for them.
C. Shrimp fishers must spend time sorting the shrimp from the bycatch, and some shrimp
spoil during this time.
D. The populations of some species of fish are reduced because so many of their young
are caught in shrimp nets.

6. According to paragraph 4, how does bycatch sometimes benefit sport fish, seabird, crab,
and even shrimp populations?
A. The discarded fish provide these species with a significant amount of food that would
otherwise be unavailable to them.
B. Fishing eliminates up to 40 to 60 percent of the predators of these species, most of
which are caught unintentionally.
C. These fish and other animals may be caught unintentionally in overcrowded locations
and then released into more favorable environments.
D. Many of the competitiors of these species are eliminated by fishing, leaving them with
access to more food and other resources.

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

8. What does paragraph 5 suggest is the reason why landing rates of the most valuable
species fell 25 percent in the last three decades of the twentieth century?
A. Changes in technology led many fishers to shift from a focus on near-bottom species
to lower-value open-ocean species.
B. Around the world, the number of people and ships involved in the fishing trade
declined because of changes in the demand for fish.
 C. The total amount of fish in the ocean decreased significantly, leading to a steady
decrease in global total catch.
D. The most valuable species make up a much smaller percentage of the total sea
population than they used to.

9. In the paragraph below, there is a missing sentence. Look at the paragraph and indicate
(A, B, C and D) where the following sentence could be added to the passage.
Turtles were not the only marine species to benefit from new catch techniques.
Where would the sentence best fit?

Conservation organizations have condemned the obvious and extreme waste associated
with bycatch. [A] Public concern over high mortality rates of endangered marine turtles
captured in shrimp trawls led to the development of turtle exclusion devices (TEDs) in the
1980s. [B] TEDs were incorporated into the shrimp net design with the purpose of directing
turtles out of nets without unacceptably reducing shrimp catches. [C] Marine engineers and
fishers also developed shrimp net designs that incorporate bycatch reduction devices
(BRDs), taking advantage of behavioral differences between shrimp and fish, or between
different fishes in order to separate fishes. [D]

A. Option A
B. Option B
C. Option C
D. Option D