Let me ask you: do you motor from port to port at night? Do you set the autopilot and go below long enough to make a sandwich? In the areas we saw, doing these things will guarantee running over a few. I'm not kidding about steering corrections required every 30 seconds or so to miss them. Whether you get caught or not would be a matter of luck. Whether its a "big deal" or not depends on how you get snagged, and where, and what the weather is doing. The lobstermen in Canada showed considerably more restraint, and even there it was a problem.

This summer I am fitting a rope cutter and also carrying a hook knife which should make freeing up easier, at least.