The D&D Monster Manual isn't a catalog of all the creatures that DO exist in any given fantasy world, it is a toolbox of creatures that MIGHT exist in your fantasy world. And, that doesn't make any of those creatures common occurrences.
If you want your world to be so dangerous that it's crawling with monsters, farming and trade isn't safe . . . . go for it, that can be cool, but . . . . it's not the baseline.
I guess you didn't read my post terribly carefully. To repeat myself:
"And there used to be more, so you can pull from older editions as well for even more ocean or coastal threats
. Now, obviously, it isn't going to be all of these things all of the time... but a lot of these things have large populations, and any of them could pose a major problem for a fishing village.
Now turn your gaze towards "forest monsters" or "surface cave-dwelling monsters" and these numbers swell.
And, again obviously, a DM doesn't have to use all of these, but all of them do exist somewhere in most DnD worlds, and while in the real world something like a tiger can't really threaten a village or city too greatly... that's doesn't hold true for giants or a troll which could actually kill an entire village."
So, yes, I know that it isn't a toolbox of everything that does exist, and the DM could choose to use fewer monsters. And yes, I do know that not all of these monsters are going to be common. However, the Monster Manual doesn't say anything "Only three of these monsters should be considered common, and only 50 should be used" it presents all of them. So, it is valid to use... all of them.
And that makes them more common than people tend to suppose.
I did not say "If you want your world to be so dangerous that it's crawling with monsters, farming and trade isn't safe" AT ALL. And considering I get accused of this EVERY SINGLE TIME, I'd appreciate if you didn't put words in my mouth that is inevitably going to lead to posters making accusations and mocking me. Because, yes, it happens EVERY SINGLE TIME I dare to point out that there are an awful lot of monsters in the book, and that the game seems to assume all of them exist.
Which is why I triple checked to make sure I said that this was not a baseline assumption, and that DMs could choose differently, and that it doesn't mean the game world is a death world that couldn't possibly support civilization. So, if you aren't willing to engage with an actual point and instead want to put words in my mouth, don't bother replying again.
And I'm sorry if this seems harsh and me lashing out, but again, this happens EVERY SINGLE TIME, no matter how many precautions I take to not get accused of the same thing over and over again.