The Icelandic fishing fleet landed 122,166 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, representing a 13 percent decrease compared to May 2018. While the demersal catch increased by 7 percent year-on-year, this was more than offset by lower catches in the pelagic, flatfish, and shellfish categories.
According to preliminary data compiled by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, last month’s demersal catch totaled 48,279 MT, while the pelagic, flatfish and shellfish landings totaled 69,561 MT (down 23 percent), 3,246 MT (down 11 percent) and 1,080 MT (down 29 percent), respectively.
Within the demersal category, the cod catch increased 3 percent to 26,469 MT, while the landings of haddock (4,068 MT) and saithe (7,528 MT) were up 20 percent and 31 percent, respectively. The redfish volume was down 4 percent to 5,073 MT.
With no capelin and herring caught, and very little mackerel (394 MT), the pelagic catch almost entirely comprised blue whiting, although the 69,167 MT of this species was 23 percent lower than in May 2018.
The authority’s figures also confirmed that the total June 2018 to May 2019 catch was down 14 percent year-on-year to less than 1.1 million MT. While there were increases in the demersal (492,828 MT), flatfish (26,638 MT) and shellfish (11,769 MT) groups of 4 percent, 3 percent, and 6 percent, respectively, the total pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down 26 percent to 564,648 MT.
