Read the passage below carefully and answer the question that follows.
For decades, the fishermen of the Aethel River basin relied on seasonal flood cycles to sustain their catch. However, the completion of the upstream hydroelectric dam altered the river’s natural hydrology, stabilizing water flow year-round but suppressing the periodic inundation that traditionally deposited nutrient-rich silt into adjacent spawning wetlands. Consequently, migratory fish species that depended on shallow, flooded fields for breeding experienced severe population declines. In response, younger villagers began migrating to urban centers to seek industrial employment, leaving the local cooperative to be managed predominantly by elderly residents. Desperate to maintain output, the remaining cooperative members turned to smaller-mesh nets to capture juvenile fish. While this measure temporarily sustained daily yields, community elders observed that overall seasonal harvests continued to shrink year after year. The local council recently proposed subsidizing fish farming in artificial ponds, but traditionalists argue that such initiatives threaten to erode the ancestral cultural identity built around riverine communal fishing.
From the passage, what can be logically inferred about the long-term effect of using smaller-mesh nets by the local cooperative?
- It accelerated the depletion of the fish stock by preventing juvenile fish from reaching reproductive maturity.Answer
- BIt successfully halted the decline in seasonal harvests and restored pre-dam yield levels.
- CIt persuaded youth who had migrated to urban centers to return to the river basin.
- DIt was the primary cause of the altered hydrological flow and suppressed silt deposition in the basin.