Sea bird by-catch for instance, receives a lot of ink as net fishermen are routinely accused of indiscriminately killing sea birds. During the Florida net ban fight, the commercial fishermen were branded as bird killers, among other things. In an attempt to find out if there were any statistics on who was doing what to whom, I contacted the Department of Environmental Regulation and the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services who put me in touch with several sea bird rescue organizations. Very few sea birds are killed by US fishermen in the southeast. It may be the same in other parts of the country.
Perception is the commercial fishermen are killing the sea birds in Florida.
In reality, the biggest cause of death to sea birds is the monofilament fishing line used by millions of recreational fishermen. Sea bird bycatch by shrimp trawlers is not even a minor occurrence. Actually it's just the opposite if consideration is given for all the seabirds being fed by the bycatch from shrimp trawling. Numerous pelagic species are fed by shrimp bycatch and there is some scientific discussion that such feeding has enhanced the population of many pelagic species. And of course, the number of bottlenose and other type dolphins fed from shrimp bycatch is astounding.