WWF Comprehension Questions

Fishing innovatins began in ​the ​ (a)   .

Reread the 2nd paragraph on page 28.

• late 19th century
• late 17th century
• early 18th century
• late 18th century
• early 19th century
• early 17th century

Answer explanation

“It was in the North Sea in the late nineteenth century that

innovations in fishing began to take place.” (page 28)

Where is the North Sea?

Reread the second paragraph on page 28.

Answer explanation

“The North Sea is a body of water rich in fish, which is

surrounded by the great European fishing nations, such as Scotland, England, France, Belgium, the Netherlands,

Denmark, Germany, Sweden and Norway.” (page 28)

Who first started using the beam trawler and when?

Reread the sentence above the diagram on page 29.

• The French ; 14th century

• The Dutch ; 14th century

• The Norwegians; 14th century

• The British; 14th century

Answer explanation

“It was the British that first started using a beam trawler in the fourteenth century."

Draw an picture of a beam trawler and describe how it works.

What were the advantages of beam trawlers?

Reread the second paragraph on page 30.

Answer explanation

“The potential of dragging a net through the water and

hauling up everything in its path had obvious advantages

over setting lines with bait hooks. In addition to requiring

no bait, a beam trawler seemed certain to haul in a much higher percentage of the fish it passed.” (page 30)

What were well boats?

Reread the last paragraph on page 30.

Answer explanation

“These were ships that contained a tank of seawater into which the caught fish would be dumped, enabling fish to stay fresh longer than previously.” (page 30)

What was different about the Zodiac?

Reread the last sentence above the illustration on page 31, and continue reading that onto page 32.

Answer explanation

It was “the first vessel built for dragging fishing nets under

steam power.” (page 31)

What four things started to happen between the 1870s and 1880s?

Reread the last paragraph on page 32. Pay attention to the bulleted list.

Answer explanation

Steam engines got more powerful and could drag deeper.

More powerful steam engines meant more places could be

dragged.

Britain became the greatest fishing nation because of the

amount of fish they caught.

The fish in the North Sea started showing signs of

depletion. (page 32)

What did fishermen do when fish declined in one place?

Reread the large font on the top of page 33.

Answer explanation

“They simply moved on to new ones.” (page 33)