argument131 FLY AW第三十六次作业

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT131 - The following appeared in an environmental newsletter published in Tria Island.

"The marine sanctuary on Tria Island was established to protect certain marine mammals. Its regulations ban dumping and offshore oil drilling within 20 miles of Tria, but fishing is not banned. Currently many fish populations in Tria's waters are declining, a situation blamed on pollution. In contrast, the marine sanctuary on Omni Island has regulations that ban dumping, offshore oil drilling, and fishing within 10 miles of Omni and Omni reports no significant decline in its fish populations. Clearly, the decline in fish populations in Tria's waters is the result of overfishing, not pollution. Therefore, the best way to restore Tria's fish populations and to protect all of Tria's marine wildlife is to abandon our regulations and adopt those of Omni."
WORDS:612         TIME:严重超时        DATE: 2006-7-10

In this newsletter, the arguer asserts that the current regulations in Tria should be abandoned, instead, regulations of Omni should be adopted in order to restore Tria's fish populations and to protect all the marine wildlife of Tria. To support the assertion, the arguer cites the relevant regualtions both in Tria and Omni, and some facts which are considered to be the results of the given regulations. However, the evidence mentioned in the argument is not convincing enough, for several patent logical fallacies.

In the first place, the decline in fish population in Tria's waters should not be blamed to the result of overfishing. On one hand, no evidence is provided that the unbanned fishing has indeed led to the decline in the fish populations in Tria's waters. Perhaps it is the serious pollution that result in the decline in fish populations, since it is entirely possible the regulations may not be practiced effectively and efficiently. If so, the dumping and offshore oil drilling within 20 miles of Tria might continue as well. Even if the ban brings its effect in actuality, some other forms of pollutions, which are not banned by the government, may also disturb the waters. On the other, even assuming that the unbanned fishing should be blamed, it is entirely possible that people in this area are all environmental protectors, thus they would not fishing even though no ban is publicized. Hence, without precluding the possibilities mentioned above, the author cannot convince us the causal relationship existing between the decreased fish population and the overfishing .

In addtion, the regulations in Omni Island may not apply to Tria Island. First, there is no evidence to convince us that the separate detailed condtions regarding the marine animals, as well as the fish, both in the Tria's water and in the Omni water are similar enough. Perhaps in the area of 10 miles of Tria, even no fish ever exists, thus implemeting the same regulations as Omnin would be necessary by no means. Even if the fish do exist in the waters of Tria, the fish within the banned ranges may differ, thus different fish may have different adaptive abilities to pollotions, some survive yet others die.

Another fallacy lies in the collected data regarding the report of Omni. The fact that Omni reports no significant decline in its fish populations is open to doubt. Maybe the phenomenon that the fish populations do indeed decline in the waters of Omni, yet the relevant officials conceal the data and make the public unaware of the serious decline in fish populations.

Finally, the conclusion drawn from the evidence listed is unsubstantiated. First, abandoning our original regulations and adopting the Omni’s may cause more serious pollution, since the protected range would be decreased to 10 miles. Thus, the serious situation regarding the fish in the area may go from bad to worse. Even if the regulations could achieve their effects, there is no guanantee that all the marine animals in the waters of Tria would be out of danger.

In sum, plausible as it seems to be, the proposal that regulations in Omni should be adopted to Tria, in an attempt to restore its fish populations as well as protecting all the marine animals in the waters of Tria, is unverified. To strengther the suggestion, the detailed information concerning the major aspects both in Tria and in Omni should be provided, in order to make a complete comparison between the two areas possible. Also, the true reason which lead to the decline in the fish population in Tria should be further investigated, in order to guanantee the proposed regulation would achieve its effects.