The Icelandic fishing fleet landed seafood totaling 131,705 metric tons (MT) last month, a decrease of 31 percent compared with March 2016, according to new figures published by Statistics Iceland.
In addition to an eight percent drop in the demersal catch, which totaled 49,395 MT, there was a 42 percent decline in the total pelagic catch, which amounted to 79,420 MT last month.
Within the pelagic catch, the biggest declines were seen in capelin and blue whiting. Capelin landings dropped by 39 percent year-on-year to 78,835 MT, while blue whiting fell 92 percent to just 584 MT.
In the demersal category, there was a 16 percent decline in the cod catch and a 19 percent drop in the haddock catch, amounting to 28,448 MT and 3,799 MT, respectively.
There were, however, improvements in the total flatfish and shellfish catches last month, with fishermen landing 2,073 MT of the former (up 30 percent) and 817 MT of the latter (up 50 percent).
During the last 12-month period, Iceland landed 1.1 million MT of seafood, a decrease of 17 percent year-on-year.
