The total volume of fish and shellfish landed by Iceland’s fishing fleet last year increased by 13 percent to 1,259,081 MT – a jump of more than 82,000 metric tons (MT) compared with 2017, according to preliminary figures gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries.
Larger catches were seen in the demersal, flatfish, shellfish, and pelagic categories.
Overall, the demersal catch climbed 12 percent to 480,660 MT, with cod rising six percent to 274,909 MT and haddock and saithe both up by 34 percent to 48,661 MT and 66,273 MT, respectively. Redfish landings fell by one percent to 58,077 MT.
Flatfish landings for the year climbed by 24 percent to 27,150 MT, while the shellfish catch increased by 20 percent to 12,524 MT.
At the same time, the pelagic catch improved by three percent to 738,738 MT, with blue whiting rising 28 percent to 292,952 MT, but being partially offset by an 18 percent lower mackerel catch at 135,560 MT.
The Directorate of Fisheries’ data also highlighted that the December 2018 catch was just 56,709 MT, which was 19 percent less than in the corresponding month of 2017. There were declines in all of the main species groups: demersal (down 15 percent), flatfish (down 14 percent), shellfish (down four percent), and pelagics (down 23 percent).
