Saving Sea Turtles
Small-scale fishing performed with nets is one of the most common fishing methods used around the world. One of the unfortunate side effects of this method is that sea turtles, which are considered threatened, get caught in the nets along with the fish. Conservation blologists at the University of Exeter in England recently devised a way to prevent these sea turtle deaths, which they tested at a fishery in northern Peru. They found that attaching green LED lights to the nets warned the turtles away, possibly because the lights made the nets more visible. The number of sea turtle deaths was reduced, but the number of fish caught seemed to remain the same.
What is the main, or central, idea of the passage?
One problem with small-catch fishing is that sea turtles get caught along with fish.
To prevent turtles from becoming caught in fishing nets, conservation biologists attached LED lights to the nets.
Conservation biologists are researching ways to save the threatened sea turtle population.
The correct answer and explanation is:
The correct answer is: One problem with small-catch fishing is that sea turtles get caught along with fish.
Explanation:
The central idea of the passage revolves around the unintended consequence of small-scale fishing using nets, which results in sea turtles, a threatened species, getting caught. The passage highlights that this method of fishing poses a threat to the sea turtle population. The focus is on the problem of turtle entanglement in fishing nets, which leads to their deaths, rather than solely on the solutions or ongoing research efforts.
While the passage does mention that conservation biologists have come up with a potential solution (attaching green LED lights to the nets) to reduce turtle deaths, the main focus is on the issue itself—the problem of sea turtles being caught in nets during small-scale fishing. The mention of the LED lights and the subsequent reduction in turtle deaths serves as a way of addressing the central problem. However, the passage doesn’t dwell on the solution; it simply presents it as a response to the problem at hand.
The other two options, “To prevent turtles from becoming caught in fishing nets, conservation biologists attached LED lights to the nets” and “Conservation biologists are researching ways to save the threatened sea turtle population,” are more focused on specific aspects of the solution or broader research, but they don’t encapsulate the main problem presented in the passage as clearly as the chosen central idea. Thus, the best answer is that the primary issue is the accidental capture of sea turtles in fishing nets.