Read the following passage.
A. A Pacific salmon's life begins in the gravel of a stream or lake bed, in a nest called a redd that the female has prepared. She lays thousands of eggs, usually between 2,000 and 10,000, but fewer than one per cent survive to produce the next generation. A newly hatched fish, called an alevin, stays hidden in the gravel and feeds on its yolk sac. It then becomes a fry and hides from predators in dark pools. Before it can move from fresh water to salt water, the young fish goes through a change called smolting and gains a silvery coating over its scales.
B. Salmon enter the ocean as young fish and gain more than 99 per cent of their adult weight there. Five species live in North American waters: chinook, coho, chum, sockeye and pink. Pink salmon have a fixed two-year lifespan, while chinook, the largest species, return to spawn at ages from two to seven. When they mature, salmon travel back to the stream where they were born, and scientists believe they find it by its chemical scent. Once back in fresh water they stop eating, yet they often travel 50 kilometres a day on the way to their spawning grounds. Most adults die within days of spawning.
C. Salmon have long been central to First Nations on the Pacific coast. Many permanent villages stood beside the main salmon rivers, and salmon mattered for culture, trade and food. In 1992 the federal fisheries department began the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy after a Supreme Court ruling affirmed the right of First Nations to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes, and today those fisheries have priority over all others. Commercial fishing began soon after Europeans arrived, and fleets now use seine nets, gillnets and trolling lines; seiners take about half of the catch.
D. Salmon now face serious pressures. Climate change, habitat loss and fishing pressures have affected them at every stage of life, and in dry summers some streams dry up, leaving young fish trapped in isolated pools. In Vancouver, only two of about 50 salmon streams remain. Under the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its partners have restored 15.7 million square metres of habitat and retired more than 575 commercial salmon licences, cutting the number of eligible licences by over 43 per cent. The initiative also funds more than 100 hatcheries run by partner groups.
E. Not given in any of the above paragraphs.
Decide which paragraph, A to D, has the information given in each statement below. Select E if the information is not given in any of the paragraphs.
AI explanationShows the answer. Tap to open.
Correct Answer: D
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph D. Under the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its partners retired more than 575 commercial salmon licences. Licences are permits, commercial fishing is catching fish to sell, and retiring them cuts their number.
Passage Reference: Under the Pacific Salmon Strategy Initiative, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its partners have restored 15.7 million square metres of habitat and retired more than 575 commercial salmon licences, cutting the number of eligible licences by over 43 per cent.
Tips: Fishing to sell comes up in more than one place. Find where the permits go down in number because of a program.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A follows eggs, alevins and fry in the gravel and says nothing about fishing permits.
- B: The second paragraph describes the ocean years and the trip home, and no fishing rules appear there.
- C: Notice that paragraph C describes commercial fleets and their nets, but it does not say the number of licences was reduced.
- E: The retirement of more than 575 commercial salmon licences is reported in Paragraph D.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: A newly hatched fish, called an alevin, stays hidden in the gravel and feeds on its yolk sac.
Why this is correct: In paragraph A, the writer explains that the eggs lie in a gravel nest called a redd. A newly hatched fish is called an alevin. It never says how long the eggs take to hatch, so no time is given.
Tips: The passage names each early stage. Check whether it gives any length of time for the eggs.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The redd and the newly hatched alevin are both described in paragraph A. But the time between laying and hatching is left out.
- B: Paragraph B gives ages for adult salmon, such as two to seven years for chinook, but not hatching time.
- C: Paragraph C deals with First Nations fisheries and commercial fleets. No eggs are mentioned.
- D: The fourth paragraph mentions young fish trapped in drying pools, not how long eggs take to hatch.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: She lays thousands of eggs, usually between 2,000 and 10,000, but fewer than one per cent survive to produce the next generation.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph A says a female lays thousands of eggs. But fewer than one per cent survive to produce the next generation. Less than one in a hundred is very few, and producing the next generation means having young of their own.
Tips: Look at paragraph B: it also mentions death. Make sure the numbers are about eggs.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: In paragraph B, the writer says most adults die within days of spawning, which is about the parents, not the eggs.
- C: Paragraph C describes fishing by First Nations and fleets, with no survival figures for eggs.
- D: The fourth paragraph says dry summers can leave young fish trapped, but it gives no share of eggs that survive.
- E: The figure of fewer than one per cent of eggs surviving is given in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Once back in fresh water they stop eating, yet they often travel 50 kilometres a day on the way to their spawning grounds.
Why this is correct: Notice that paragraph B says that once salmon are back in fresh water they stop eating. Going without food means not eating, and coming back from the sea is returning to fresh water.
Tips: Food comes up in another place too, but there people are the ones who need it. Look for the fish themselves going hungry on the trip home.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The alevin feeding on its yolk sac is in paragraph A. That is about the baby fish, not adults.
- C: Paragraph C talks about salmon as food for people, not about what salmon themselves eat.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it covers threats and recovery work, with nothing about salmon feeding.
- E: The fact that returning adults stop eating in fresh water is stated in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: A
Passage Reference: Before it can move from fresh water to salt water, the young fish goes through a change called smolting and gains a silvery coating over its scales.
Why this is correct: The first paragraph describes a change called smolting. The young fish goes through it before it can move from fresh water to salt water. It also gains a silvery coating. Moving to salt water means heading out to sea.
Tips: Notice that paragraph B also mentions young fish entering the ocean, but only one paragraph gives the change a name.
Why the other options are wrong:
- B: Look at paragraph B: it says salmon enter the ocean as young fish. But it does not describe a change in their bodies first.
- C: Notice that paragraph C is about fishing rights and fleets, not the growth of young salmon.
- D: Paragraph D says young fish can be trapped in pools, which is a danger, not a body change.
- E: Smolting, the change before the move to salt water, is explained in Paragraph A.
Correct Answer: C
Passage Reference: In 1992 the federal fisheries department began the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy after a Supreme Court ruling affirmed the right of First Nations to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes, and today those fisheries have priority over all others.
Why this is correct: The third paragraph says a Supreme Court ruling affirmed the right of First Nations to fish for food, social and ceremonial purposes. This led to the Aboriginal Fisheries Strategy in 1992. A ruling is a court decision, and affirmed means confirmed.
Tips: Find where First Nations fishing for food is discussed. Check that a court decision, and not only a government plan, confirmed it.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Notice that paragraph A describes the first stages of a salmon's life, and no people appear there.
- B: In paragraph B, the writer follows salmon back to their home streams, with nothing about rights or courts.
- D: Paragraph D names Fisheries and Oceans Canada and its partners, but no court ruling is mentioned.
- E: The Supreme Court ruling on fishing for food, social and ceremonial purposes is in Paragraph C.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: Pink salmon have a fixed two-year lifespan, while chinook, the largest species, return to spawn at ages from two to seven.
Why this is correct: Look at paragraph B: it says pink salmon have a fixed two-year lifespan. Fixed means the length does not change, so this species always lives exactly two years.
Tips: Watch 'always' and 'exactly'. More than one kind can live two years, so ask which one never lives longer.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: The first paragraph describes eggs and young fish but gives no total length of life.
- C: Notice that paragraph C gives the year 1992 for a fisheries strategy, not a lifespan.
- D: Look at paragraph D: it lists results of a salmon initiative, with no ages for any species.
- E: The fixed two-year lifespan of pink salmon is stated in Paragraph B.
Correct Answer: E
Passage Reference: Commercial fishing began soon after Europeans arrived, and fleets now use seine nets, gillnets and trolling lines; seiners take about half of the catch.
Why this is correct: Paragraph C says commercial fishing began soon after Europeans arrived, and it describes the nets fleets use today. It gives a time but no reason for the growth, and tinned salmon is never mentioned.
Tips: The statement gives a cause. Check whether Paragraph C explains why, or only when.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A covers the life of eggs and young fish, with no trade or markets.
- B: The second paragraph describes the salmon's journey home, not fishing businesses.
- C: Europeans and commercial fleets both appear in Paragraph C, but no cause for the growth of the fishery is offered.
- D: Notice that paragraph D talks about retiring licences today, not why commercial fishing grew in the past.
Correct Answer: B
Passage Reference: When they mature, salmon travel back to the stream where they were born, and scientists believe they find it by its chemical scent.
Why this is correct: Paragraph B says salmon travel back to the stream where they were born. Scientists believe they find it by its chemical scent. A scent is a smell, and believe means think.
Tips: Several places mention streams. Ask which one explains how salmon know their own stream again.
Why the other options are wrong:
- A: Paragraph A says life begins in a stream or lake bed, but it does not explain how adults find their way back.
- C: Look at paragraph C: it says First Nations villages stood beside salmon rivers, which is about people, not how salmon navigate.
- D: The fourth paragraph counts the salmon streams left in Vancouver, not how fish find them.
- E: The chemical scent that guides salmon home is described in Paragraph B.
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