Iceland’s fishing fleet landed seafood with a total value of ISK 148.9 billion (EUR 1.1 billion; USD 1.1 billion) in the 12 months through November 2015, an increase of 9 percent year-on-year, according to new figures published by Statistics Iceland.
The improved value was underpinned by an ISK 5.7 billion (EUR 40.3 million; USD 43.8 million) increase in the value of the cod catch and an ISK 8.6 billion (EUR 60.8 million; USD 66.1 million) spike in the value of the capelin catch. During the December 2014 and November 2015 period, Iceland’s fishermen landed almost ISK 59 billion (EUR 417.1 million; USD 453.6 million) and ISK 12.7 billion (EUR 89.8 million; USD 97.6 million) worth of cod and capelin, respectively.
Overall, the country’s demersal catch grew by 8.7 percent in value to ISK 100.7 billion (EUR 711.9 million; USD 774.1 million), while its pelagic catch increased by 5.2 percent to ISK 34.8 billion (EUR 246 million; USD 267.5 million).
At the same time, the value its flatfish and shellfish catches improved by 30.1 percent and 8.8 percent year-on-year to ISK 30.1 billion (EUR 212.8 million; USD 231.4 million) and ISK 3.9 billion (EUR 27.6 million; USD 30 million), respectively.
In terms of product utilization, ISK 80.2 billion (EUR 567.1 million; USD 616.5 million) worth of the total catch went to directly domestic processing, which represented an increase of 19.1 percent. A further ISK 19.7 billion (EUR 139.3 million; USD 151.4 million) worth went to auction for domestic processing, which was on par with the previous 12 months.
In addition, ISK 43.6 billion (EUR 308.3 million; USD 335.2 million) worth of products were frozen at sea, which was down slightly year-on-year.
