Catching vessels operating out of Iceland landed a total 51,547 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, which was 30 percent less than in February 2019. The only volume increase was seen in the demersal category.
According to the preliminary data gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, the February 2020 demersal catch of 43,918 MT was 5 percent higher than a year previously, with cod landings also increasing by 5 percent – to 28,876 MT, and redfish rising 50 percent to 5,034 MT. There was, however a 21 percent drop in haddock to 4,558 MT and a 5 percent reduction in the saithe catch to 3,393 MT.
Meanwhile, the country’s pelagic catch of 6,577 MT was down 78 percent compared with February 2019, with the category entirely comprising blue whiting.
At the same time, the fleet’s flatfish and shellfish landings totaled 862 MT, a drop of 30 percent, and 190 MT, a drop of 45 percent, respectively.
The authority calculated the combined March 2019 to February 2020 catch at less than 1.02 million MT, a decrease of 14 percent year-on-year. Within this total, there was a 5 percent decrease in the demersal species group at 467,726 MT. Total pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down 21 percent to 517,012 MT. There was also a 27 percent decline in the flatfish catch to 20,582 MT, and a 24 percent drop in the shellfish volume to 9,798 MT.
For the full calendar year 2019, Iceland’s wild-capture fisheries landings totaled 1,048,202 MT, which was 17 percent less than in 2018. Most of that decrease was attributed to a zero capelin catch, but there were also declines in the volumes of flatfish and shellfish landings, while the demersal catch was unchanged at 481,512 MT.
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