I do think the Reaper is annoying but I don’t want the amount of the around the map to be lessened; it’s gonna take away some of that unique Subnautica vibe that makes it super unexpectedly scary.

Heh, I love threat in games, and in Subnautica, you have to watch your steps carefully, to not meet one of the Reapers.

Yes I agree with @Glavielord

Reapers are placed strategically throughout the map to simultaneously dissuade early game players from entering certain areas for fear of death and provide challenge for mid and late game players collecting certain valuable resources and blueprints. They're basically cleverly designed level blockades - while there are certain clever things you can do to get past them early game, they require a decent amount of setup. You're probably not getting past a reaper without at least mid game equipment, making the vast amount of titanium hidden on the crash zone floor and the valuable blueprints obtainable in mass quantities in the dunes and mountains, and to some extent the surrounding mushroom forest and bulb zone, hard to get.

That being said, I, personally, don't think there are enough of them.