Iceland’s fishing fleet landed 31,697 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, which was 33 percent less than in June 2018, with lower catches across all species categories.
According to preliminary data collected by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, last month’s demersal catch of 29,504 MT was 12 percent lower than a year previously, while the flatfish and shellfish landings totaled 2,715 MT (-21 percent) and 477 MT (-35 percent), respectively. There was a zero pelagic catch, down from 10,769 MT in June 2018.
Within the demersal category, the cod catch was down 17 percent to 14,835 MT. Also, landings of redfish (3,389 MT) and haddock (1,828 MT) fell by 17 percent and 23 percent respectively, while saithe was up 31 percent to 5,348 MT.
The authority’s figures also confirmed that the total July 2018 to June 2019 catch amounted to less than 1.1 million MT, which was down 15 percent year-on-year. Within this total, there were 3 percent increases in both the demersal and shellfish species groups at 489,019 MT and 11,511 MT respectively, but the total pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down 26 percent to 553,879 MT. The flatfish catch was unchanged at 25,925 MT.
