The Icelandic fishing fleet landed a total 103,600 metric tons (MT) of fish and seafood last month, some 8.7 percent more than in March 2020, with increases seen across every fisheries category.
According to the preliminary data gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, March’s demersal catch increased by 4 percent year-on-year to 55,371 MT, with cod landings remaining on par with the corresponding month of 2020 at 33,022 MT, while haddock was up 10 percent to 5,734 MT, and saithe increased 36 percent to 8,199 MT. The redfish volume fell 15 percent to 5,064 MT.
Iceland’s flatfish catch increased by 49 percent to 1,977 MT, and its shellfish landings spiked 122 percent to 358 MT.
Meanwhile, the country’s pelagic catch climbed 21 percent to 46,293 MT, thanks largely to a 100 percent jump in the capelin landings at 44,593 MT. Also within this category, the blue whiting volume fell by 96 percent to 1,700 MT.
The authority totaled the combined April 2020 to March 2021 catch at almost 1.08 million MT, a rise of 9 percent year-on-year. This increase included mixed results across species, with a 2 percent decrease in the demersal species group at 476,259 MT; a 17 percent increase in the pelagic volume at 572,086 MT; a 26 percent increase in flatfish at 25,530 MT; and a 46 percent fall in shellfish landed, with 5,160 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 of 4 percent to 463,175 MT, pelagics decreased 1 percent to 529,427 MT, and shellfish landings decreased 51 percent to 4,973 MT; while the flatfish catch increased by 4 percent to 23,013 MT.
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