> Trawl industry representatives say that bycatch, which the industry is required by law to discard, is not the driving force behind recent crab, salmon, and halibut declines. They point to climate change and warming waters as well as natural population variability as the primary culprits.

I don't think they are wrong here. I think blaming trawlers is looking for rounding errors. But there are still a litany of reasons to start sensibly restricting trawling.