The depth of winter would seem to describe the present situation quite admirably. Gales arrive from our northern neighbours and rain comes when the flow turns southerly bringing up moist warm air from areas that don’t normally experience anything resembling “winter”.

All in all, there is really nothing to inspire the average weekender to make a run offshore. Just going to the effort of getting ready on the off chance that there will be some favourable weather on the weekend is all so often dashed by long range forecasts that predict doom and gloom.

Not that the offshore report is all that encouraging either. Most of the professional fleet is concentrating on the lobster fishery with some time being spent working the bottom on the top of the Banks. Naturally, the weather does not allow much time for the latter practice, and many commercial operators simply use this time of the year to prepare for the better months that lie ahead.

Based on previous years there should be some wahoo around, as well as the apparently resident blackfin tuna, although this species decidedly prefers to be active in warm water.

Yellowfin tuna sometimes show up during the winter months, but they can be unpredictable and there have not been any confirmed observations of any numbers thus far this year.

Things are subject to change, though even when the weather would seem to dictate otherwise.

Anglers are probably best advised to stay at home and maybe work on their gear. Now is the best time to clean up and oil reels, change line, and repair loose guides on rods. Procrastination will inevitably mean a last minute rush or worse, as disappointment might be the result of a reel locking up on a strike.

Tourists are often surprised, and say so, that there is so little seafood that is local to the Island. While it doesn’t help that restaurants boast that “the catch of The day” is salmon, the truth of the matter is that there isn’t much on offer other than some local fish, usually wahoo or tuna and lobsters when they are in season.

To exacerbate the issue, lobster season is winter when tourists are few and far between. As a result, the variety of local seafood is at a minimum during the summer months when visitors are most numerous, often proving to come as something of a surprise to them.

No prawns, no crabs, no shrimp and no real shellfish, those absences don’t really fit in with the idyllic perception of a tropical island.

Now, it is not a total lack of these species that is the problem. There are numerous species of shrimp and crab, it is just that they are not suited to human consumption. Many are tiny, bordering on the microscopic.

Others are so cryptic that they remain unseen even in plain view. Some are really fascinating creatures in their own right, but that isn’t going to help the gourmet.

Similarly, there are molluscs as well, conch of several varieties, mussels, clams and even scallops. None of which make any menu, at least, not legally.

Queen conch are actually more numerous than people think, but there certainly are not enough to support a fishery. The conch that is sold at county games and the like actually isn’t true conch, but a species of whelk that is commercially fished elsewhere. The taste and consistency are similar, so a good chef can make it seem just like the real thing.

There used to be a small commercial mussel fishery, but that has long since drawn to a close. The simple fact is that there are not enough numbers to allow an economically viable harvest while ensuring that overfishing or possible extinction does not not occur.

The same is true of species like the calico clam. This latter species is well known from Harrington Sound, which is just about the only place that it can be found as adults that might be exploitable. The problem with such creatures here in Bermuda is simply a matter of numbers.

If they really only occur in Harrington Sound, how many might there be? In realistic terms the Sound, as all of Bermuda, is tiny.

To put numbers on it, even if there were several million clams in the Harrington Sound population, using an average figure of 50,000 local people, that would only equate to about 20 clams per person per million available. Forty if there were two million clams, sixty if there were three million and so on.

That might be okay if people only ate one meal of them a year and, as the scientists might ask, how many can you take out before the population is unable to sustain itself.

It was probably that sort of thinking that led to the ban on the taking of such species. There is a major difference between a population being ecologically sustainable and something being able to support a sustainable yield over time.

Contrast the limited productive bottom for shellfish here in Bermuda with the almost unbelievable stretch of coast that runs from New England to Newfoundland, producing seemingly countless lobsters, year in and year out that supply markets all over the world.

That’s some commercial Tight Lines!