90. The following appeared as part of an article in a local newspaper.
Over the past three years the tartfish industry has changed markedly: fishing technology has improved significantly, and the demand for tartfish has grown in both domestic and foreign markets. As this trend continues, the tartfish industry on Shrimp Island can expect to experience the same over-fishing problems that are already occurring with mainland fishing industries: without restrictions on fishing, fishers see no reason to limit their individual catches. As the catches get bigger, the tartfish population will be dangerously depleted while the surplus of tartfish will devalue the catch for fishers. Government regulation is the only answer: tartfish-fishing should be allowed only during the three-month summer season, when tartfish reproduce and thus are most numerous, rather than throughout the year.
Discuss how well reasoned . . . etc.
In this argument the author concludes that government regulation of the tartfish industry is the only way to prevent the problems associated with over-fishing that plague other fishing industries. The authors line of reasoning is that without restrictions fishers see no reason to limit their catches and that this will deplete the tartfish population as well as devalue the catch. This line of reasoning is problematic for several reasons.