Iceland’s fishing fleet landed 72,700 metric tons (MT) of seafood last month, an increase of 14.3 percent or 16,400 MT year-on-year, according to figures published by Statistics Iceland.
The country’s cod catch of 17,289 MT was on par with the volume caught in June 2014, but the overall demersal catch was up by 9 percent or 2,900 MT to 35,022 MT thanks to increased landings of haddock, saithe and redfish.
At the same time, the pelagic catch increased by 63 percent or 13,000 MT due to a 139.3 percent increase in blue whiting. In total, the fleet landed 33,628 MT of pelagic fish last month.
Its flatfish catch in June increased by 40 percent or 842 MT to 2,952 MT.
At constant prices, the volume of the catch increased by 14.3 percent last month compared to June 2014, said Statistics Iceland.
In the last 12 months, Iceland’s total catch has increased by 236,000 MT, up 21.6 percent. This is mostly due to a greater pelagic catch, which increased by roughly 266,000 MT during this period, it said.
In 2014, the Icelandic fleet caught a total of 1,075,634 MT of seafood, valued at ISK 136.1 billion (EUR 924.9 million; USD 1 billion).
