The total volume of fish and shellfish landed by Iceland’s fishing fleet fell by 3 percent – or more than 27,600 metric tons (MT) last year – to 1,020,594 MT.
According to preliminary figures for 2020 gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, there were declines in the volumes of demersal, pelagic, and shellfish landings, while the flatfish catch increased by 4 percent to 23,013 MT.
Within the demersal category, which amounted to 463,175 MT – a 4 percent drop on 2019 – cod landings increased by 1 percent to 276,963 MT. However, the volumes of haddock (54,103 MT), saithe (50,429 MT), and redfish (52,065 MT) were down by 7 percent, 22 percent, and 3 percent, respectively.
The shellfish catch fell 51 percent to 4,973 MT.
Meanwhile, last year’s total pelagic volume dropped by 1 percent to 529,427 MT. While the mackerel catch increased by 18 percent to 151,521 MT, there was a 3 percent reduction in the herring catch to 134,167 MT, and a 9 percent drop in the blue whiting catch to 243,738 MT. No capelin was caught for the second year in a row.
The Directorate of Fisheries’ data also highlighted that the December 2020 catch totaled 73,640 MT, which was 16 percent more than in the final month of 2019. There were increases in the demersal (+8 percent), flatfish (+39 percent), and pelagic (+22 percent) species categories, while shellfish landings fell by 23 percent.
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