On the second day, when he arrived at the docks, the owner of the diving boat refused to take the trip and sail out. Furious, Dr. Fitzgerald looked for another boat, but all refused to leave the docks. Angrily, he sat at the local bar at the docks and ordered a fresh pineapple juice.

He noticed a group of fishermen sitting sadly in a corner, and while he looked around he saw a friendly face staring at him. He approached the elder man and questioned him about what had happened to the village. The village elder told him that it was a curse set upon them, from an ancient ocean God, ‘Tefiti’, as they had disrespected the holy water with their fishing boats and touristic activities, and therefore, all fish was dying, and eventually, there would be no fish at all.

Dr. Fitzgerald looked at pictures he had taken of his favorite spots over the years and noticed that the coral had not changed much. This surprised him, as he had seen on a documentary that with an increase in water temperatures, the corals should be affected as well.

Upon his return from lunch, which turned out to be a bowl of salad and some fruits, due to the absence of any fish, Dr. Fitzgerald was surprised to find a dead rat next to the fish carcass that he had dissected. Seemingly, the rat had nibbled on the fish carcass before dying. This made Dr. Fitzgerald revise his hypothesis and conclude that there was something infectious in the fish that was transmitted to the rat and killed it

1-Would Dr. Fitzgerald’s conclusions convince the village people? Explain why?

2-Using the Baloney detection kit, which questions should you ask to analyze Dr. Fitzgerald’s claims?