Fishing vessels operating out of Iceland landed a total 93,280 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, which was almost 7 percent less than in March 2019. According to preliminary data gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, only the demersal category saw any increase in volume, rising 3 percent year-on-year to 53,402 MT.
Cod landings increased by 5 percent to 32,892 MT. There were also larger landings of saithe and redfish at 6,006 MT and 5,947 MT, respectively, while the haddock catch fell 15 percent to 5,238 MT. At the same time, the fleet’s flatfish and shellfish landings amounted to 1,330 MT (-16 percent) and 161 MT (-59 percent), respectively.
Continuing the 78 percent decline seen in February, the country’s pelagic catch of 38,387 MT was down 40 percent compared with March 2019, with the category entirely comprising blue whiting last month.
The authority’s data also calculated the combined April 2019 to March 2020 catch at 990,018 MT, a decrease of 14 percent year-on-year. This reduction included a 4 percent decrease in the demersal species group at 469,171 MT, 21 percent less pelagics at 490,966 MT, a 25 percent fall in the shellfish landed with 9,570 MT, and 26 percent fewer flatfish at 20,308 MT.
In 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 there being no capelin caught, but there were also declines in the volumes of flatfish and shellfish, while the demersal catch was on par with the previous year at 481,512 MT.
Meanwhile, the country’s aquaculture harvest amounted to 34,000 MT last year, which was 80 percent more than 2018’s 19,100 MT. This increase was largely attributed to increased salmon production, which doubled from 13,400 MT to almost 27,000 MT. There was also a 29 percent increase in the total Artic char volume – up from 4,900 MT to 6,300 MT.
Photo courtesy of Tabor Chichakly/Shutterstock
