The Icelandic fleet caught more fish in 2017 than in the previous calendar year but saw its earnings tumble, confirms new data released by Statistics Iceland.
Vessels caught almost 1.18 million metric tons (MT) of fisheries products in 2017, an increase of 10.2 percent or 109,183 MT. However, with valueable demersal, flatfish and shellfish catches falling – replaced by larger volumes of cheaper pelagic species – the total first-sale value of less than ISK 110 billion (USD 1 billion, EUR 887 million) was 17.3 percent lower than that achieved in 2016.
Iceland’s demersal catch for the year totaled 425,898 MT, which represented a decline of 6.6 percent or 30,110 MT. The value of these landings fell by 17.7 percent to ISK 76.2 billion (USD 701.1 million, EUR 614.5 million).
This category included 249,995 MT of cod valued at ISK 48.7 billion (USD 448 million, EUR 392.7 million), down 5.4 percent and 16 percent respectively; 36,111 MT of haddock worth NOK 7.9 billion (USD 72.7 million, EUR 63.7 million), down 6.1 percent and 14.3 percent; 49,364 MT of saithe worth NOK 6.4 billion (USD 58.9 million, EUR 51.6 million), down 0.5 percent and 24.2 percent; and 58,516 MT of redfish at NOK 8.8 billion (USD 81 million, EUR 71 million), down 7.9 percent and 20.5 percent.
With 21,915 MT of product, the flatfish volume decreased by 8.4 percent. The annual ex-vessel earnings from these species, which mainly comprised Greenland halibut and plaice, were down 17.3 percent to less than ISK 7.5 billion (USD 69 million, EUR 60.5 million).
The shellfish catch totaled 10,568 MT (-15.5 percent) with a value of ISK 2.4 billion (USD 22.1 million, EUR 19.4 million), which was 29.8 percent lower than in 2016.
The country’s pelagic landings for 2017, meanwhile, totaled 718,158 MT, which was 24.9 percent or 143,248 MT more than the previous year. These catches were valued at less than ISK 23.8 billion (USD 218.9 million, EUR 191.9 million), a decrease of 14.6 percent.
Within the pelagic category, the herring volume slumped by 31.4 percent to 21,173 MT. This species achieved a value of less than NOK 1.6 billion (USD 14.7 million, EUR 12.9 million), which was 57.6 percent lower than in 2016.
On the plus side, there were large increases in the amounts of norwegian spring-spawning herring (up 61.4 percent to 80,481 MT), capelin (up 99 percent to 179,573 MT) and blue whiting (up 22.5 percent to 42,014 MT).
