Source A: An empty box is not an empty day

An original contemporary non-fiction-style practice text, written for this question.

When a box comes back from the boat half empty, people at the market sometimes congratulate us. They imagine that we have taken only what we need. Perhaps we have. Perhaps the fishing was poor, the engine failed or the buyer cancelled an order. An empty space does not explain its own history. If you want to know what happened, you have to ask about the day.

On our boat, part of the day is spent returning creatures we cannot sell or have decided not to keep. That sounds like a pause in fishing. In practice, it is work: recognising what is in the catch, separating it carefully, keeping it shaded and getting it back over the side without wasting time. A creature which looks tough inside a shell is not a piece of equipment. Handling matters. So does knowing when your own hurry is making you careless.

My father taught me to notice the water before looking at the price board. He did not mean that money was unimportant. We had fuel to buy and a boat to maintain. He meant that a good price could encourage us to stop asking questions. When an order was especially profitable, the temptation was to treat everything else as an obstacle between the sea and a full box. He would point at the sorting tray and tell me to finish the job in front of me.

I still think about that instruction when somebody says that caring should come naturally. Feelings may come naturally. Consistent care often needs a plan, knowledge and enough time to use both. It may mean leaving earlier, bringing different containers or accepting that the day’s income will be smaller. None of those choices can be made simply by admiring a photograph of a bright fish disappearing beneath clear water.

Nor should a photograph of our working hands be used to make every decision beyond criticism. We can explain a cost without proving that any action is justified by it. People buying from us are entitled to ask how the catch was obtained. I would rather answer a difficult question than be praised for an imagined version of our work.

Tomorrow we may bring back a full box or a thin one. I hope there will be enough to pay for the trip and some left after the bills. I also hope we will have done the sorting properly when nobody was watching. The measure of the day will not fit into the box alone, but the box will still have to be carried ashore.

Source B: From The Explorer’s Daughter — Kari Herbert

Read Source B in the official Pearson anthology (printed pages 6–7).

Compare how the writers present their ideas and perspectives about how practical human needs complicate attitudes towards wild animals.

Support your answer with detailed examples from both texts, including brief quotations.