Read the passage below carefully and answer the question that follows:
For generations, the salt harvesters of Lake Katwe in western Uganda have relied on pan evaporation to extract crude salt crusts from the shallow, hyper-saline waters. However, recent weather anomalies, marked by prolonged unseasonal rainfall, have disrupted these traditional harvesting cycles. As rainwater dilutes the brine pools, evaporation rates decrease sharply, drastically reducing the concentration of mineral salts required for crystallisation. To sustain their livelihoods, several youth collectives have abandoned seasonal panning in favour of extracting rock salt from deeper, submerged deposits using improvised manual dredges. While this submerged mining yields a continuous volume of industrial-grade salt throughout the year, environmental scientists warn that unmonitored dredging disturbs the delicate benthic ecosystem of the lake and accelerates shoreline erosion. Meanwhile, traditional elders argue that heavy dredging disrespects ancestral protocols that historically restricted salt extraction during rainy months to allow natural regeneration of the brine.
Based on the passage, what can be logically inferred about the youth collectives' shift to deep salt dredging?
- It prioritises year-round economic gain over long-term ecological balance and traditional conservation norms.Answer
- BIt was officially recommended by environmental scientists to modernise salt mining methods.
- CIt restored traditional ancestral protocols that were previously ignored during dry seasons.
- DIt successfully prevents unseasonal rainfall from diluting the shallow brine pools.