Iceland’s fishing fleet landed a total 58,872 metric tons (MT) of fish and seafood last month, some 65 percent more than in January 2020, with increases across every fisheries category except shellfish.
According to the preliminary data gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, January’s demersal catch increased by 34 percent year-on-year to 36,296 MT – with cod landings rising by 31 percent to 22,853 MT, haddock up 33 percent to 5,176 MT, saithe increased 9 percent to 2,902 MT, and redfish spiked 60 percent to reach 3,371 MT.
At the same time, Iceland’s pelagic catch soared 168 percent to 21,014 MT, thanks largely to a 214 percent jump in the blue whiting landings to 19,885 MT. Also within the category, the herring volume fell by 24 percent to 1,129 MT.
While the country’s flatfish catch increased by 114 percent to 1,418 MT, its shellfish landings dropped 42 percent to just 139 MT.
The authority also totaled the combined February 2020 to January 2021 catch at just over 1.04 million MT, a rise of 1 percent year-on-year. This increase included a 1 percent decrease in the demersal species group at 472,431 MT, a pelagic volume that was on par with the previous 12 months at 542,614 MT, a 51 percent fall in the shellfish landed with 4,873 MT, but some 13 percent more flatfish at 23,769 MT.
Iceland’s wild-capture fisheries landings in 2020 amounted to a total 1,020,594 MT, which was 3 percent less than in the previous year. There were declines in the volumes of demersal, down 4 percent to 463,175 MT; pelagic, down 1 percent to 529,427 MT; and shellfish landings, down 51 percent to 4,973 MT; while the flatfish catch increased by 4 percent to 23,013 MT.
Photo courtesy of Tabor Chichakly/Shutterstock
