Iceland’s fishermen landed 118,448 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month according to preliminary data compiled by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries. That total represents a decrease of 25 percent compared with March 2018, with lower catches in all main categories.
Overall, last month’s demersal catch fell by 2 percent year-on-year to 52,034 MT, with cod decreasing by 1 percent to 31,309 MT. Landings of saithe (5,469 MT) and redfish (5,547 MT) fell by 14 percent and 20 percent respectively, while haddock was up 49 percent to 6,154 MT.
Flatfish and shellfish landings for the month both dropped by 34 percent to 1,592 MT and 390 MT, respectively.
With another month of zero capelin, the pelagic catch was down 36 percent to 64,433 MT. There was, however, a 234 percent rise in the volume of blue whiting at 64,433 MT.
The authority’s figures also confirmed that the total April 2018 to March 2019 catch exceeded 1.3 million MT, which was up 6 percent year-on-year. Within this total, there were increases in the demersal, flatfish and shellfish species groups of 4 percent, 14 percent and 25 percent respectively, but pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down by 15 percent to 618,336 MT.
