3

Read the following sentences from the text.
“At one time, almost all the striped bass in the Atlantic Ocean were hatched in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. Then, about 30 years ago, the number of striped bass living near the bay started to drop. This worried biologists and environmentalists, but it also spelled trouble for the local economy. Many people made their living by fishing striped bass. By 1980, so many striped bass had disappeared that thousands of fishermen lost their jobs.

What happened to all those striped bass? One of the main reasons for the drop in bass population was overfishing: so many fish were taken from the bay, they couldn't reproduce fast enough to keep up.”

What conclusion can you draw from this evidence?

Some fisherman put their own jobs at risk by fishing for striped bass faster than the fish could reproduce.

Striped bass dropped in number because Maryland decided to get rid of Chesapeake Bay.

When striped bass disappeared from Chesapeake Bay, scientists were able to bring in more from somewhere else.

The fisherman who lost their jobs eventually started fishing in different places for striped bass.

The conclusion that can be drawn from this evidence is that overfishing was one of the main reasons for the drop in striped bass population in Maryland's Chesapeake Bay, leading to the loss of jobs for many fishermen.