Iceland’s fishing fleet landed 35,780 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, which was 23 percent less than in January 2019, with the only volume increase coming in the pelagic category.
According to preliminary data gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, the January 2020 demersal catch of 27,051 MT was 37 percent lower than a year previously, with cod landings decreasing 28 percent to 17,461 MT, haddock down 48 percent to 3,889 MT, redfish falling 41 percent to 2,110 MT, and a 55 percent reduction in the saithe catch to 2,654 MT.
At the same time, flatfish and shellfish landings totaled 662 MT, down 66 percent; and 240 MT, down 35 percent; respectively.
The country’s pelagic catch of 7,827 MT was up 482 percent compared with January 2019, thanks to 6,333 MT of blue whiting being landed. None of this species was caught a year previously. Also contributing to this category, vessels landed 1,494 MT of herring, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year.
The authority calculated the combined February 2019 to January 2020 catch at less than 1.04 million MT, a decrease of 13 percent year-on-year. Within this total, there was a 4 percent decrease in the demersal species group at 465,838 MT. Total pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down 19 percent to 540,854 MT. There was also a 24 percent decline in the flatfish catch to 20,947 MT, and a 22 percent drop in the shellfish volume to 9,951 MT.
Previously, the directorate reported that for the full calendar year 2019, Iceland’s wild-capture fisheries provided landings totaling 1,048,202 MT, which was 17 percent, or more than 210,000 MT, less than in 2018. Much of that overall decrease was attributed to 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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