Iceland’s fishermen landed more than ISK 118.8 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 951.5 million) worth of fisheries products in the 12 months through March 2018, with a substantial increase in earnings coming from the fleet’s cod catch, according to the latest figures issued by Statistics Iceland.
The country’s total demersal catch increased in value by 6.1 percent to almost ISK 84.6 billion (USD 791.9 million, EUR 677.9 million), with cod’s value increasing by seven percent to ISK 53.9 billion (USD 504.7 million, EUR 431.9 million). There were also increases in the catch values of haddock, saithe, and redfish at ISK 8.8 billion (USD 82.4 million, EUR 70.5 million), ISK 7.3 billion (USD 68.4 million, EUR 58.5 million) and ISK 10.1 billion (USD 94.6 million, EUR 80.9 million) respectively.
At the same time, the country’s flatfish value climbed by 7.2 percent to ISK 8.4 billion (USD 78.6 million, EUR 67.2 million).
However, the April 2017-March 2018 period saw steep value declines for Iceland’s pelagic and shellfish catches.
Pelagic landings achieved a total value of ISK 23.5 billion (USD 219.9 million, EUR 188.2 million), which represented a decrease of 16 percent year-on-year. Within this category, mackerel was down 21.8 percent to ISK 8.5 billion (USD 79.6 million, EUR 68.1 million), herring fell 27.3 percent to ISK 4.5 billion (USD 42.1 million, EUR 36.1 million) and capelin’s value slipped 12.2 percent to ISK 5.9 billion (USD 55.2 million, EUR 47.3 million).
Iceland’s total shellfish catch value was down 24.8 percent to ISK 2.4 billion (USD 22.5 million, EUR 19.2 million), with lobster earnings decreasing by 8.7 percent to ISK 828.7 million (USD 7.8 million, EUR 6.6 million) and shrimp revenues falling by 38.5 percent to less than ISK 1.2 billion (USD 11.2 million, EUR 9.6 million).
Over the course of the 12 months, ISK 65.5 billion (USD 612.7 million, EUR 524.7 million) worth of Iceland’s total catch went directly for domestic processing (up 4.8 percent), while ISK 16.7 billion (USD 156.4 million, EUR 133.8 million) worth was sold at auction for domestic processing (down 9.3 percent). Landings of ISK 4.6 billion (USD 43.1 million, EUR 36.9 million) were exported in containers (up 3.6 percent), while the frozen-at-sea catch fell by 1.7 percent year-on-year to less than ISK 31.8 billion (USD 297.8 million, EUR 254.8 million).
