To protect baby scallops and ensure the survival of the species, the U.S. Fisheries and Wildlife Service requires that an average scallop must weigh at least 1/36 pound. The harbormaster at a Massachusetts port randomly selected 18 bags of scallops from 11,000 bags on an arriving vessel. From each bag, agents took a large scoop of scallops, separated and weighed the meat, and divided by the number of scallops in the scoop, finding a mean weight of 1/39 pound.
(a) Would the population of 11,000 bags be considered effectively infinite in this case?
(b) Which value represents a sample statistic: 1/36 or 1/39? (Data are from Interfaces 25, no. 2 [March–April 1995], p. 18.)