Iceland’s fishing fleet landed seafood totaling 222,000 metric tons (MT) last month, an increase of 117 percent year-on-year, according to figures published by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries.
A 220 percent rise in the capelin catch – from 55,907 MT in February 2014 to 179,045 MT last month – accounted for most of the volume growth. From March 2014 to February 2015, Iceland landed a total capelin volume of 261,997 MT, an increase of 12.6 percent year-on-year.
The country’s overall pelagic catch last month totaled 181,764 MT, an increase of 198.5 percent year-on-year. For the past 12 months, its pelagic catch totaled 776,701 MT, up 17.1 percent.
Meanwhile, Iceland’s demersal catch declined 5.5 percent to 423,818 MT in the past year as a result of drops in the haddock and saithe catches of 18.4 percent and 15.6 percent, respectively. Its cod catch increased 2 percent to 239,215 MT.
For the year ending November 2014, Iceland’s total catch achieved a value of ISK 133.7 billion (EUR 900.8 million; USD 988.4 million), a drop of 12.4 percent on the total recorded for the previous 12 months.
