A Florida animal welfare charity, Save our Seabirds (SOS) has revealed that one of the birds it now cares for is a brown pelican that has to be hand-fed since a fisherman condemned it to starve by catching it and cutting off its upper mandible “because it was eating too many of my fish”.

The charity also cares for a number of herons, ducks, gulls and storks injured by monofilament fishing line, thoughtlessly discarded by fishermen.

Meanwhile unwanted mullet caught by seasonal fishermen and then dumped overboard are washed up to litter and cause a fishy stench on some of Florida’s best beaches. The red roes (eggs) of the female mullet are a highly prized food delicacy in many countries and worth five times the white roes (sperm) of the male. So caring fishermen slice the mullet they catch open to check the colour of the roe and then throw the males back into the sea.