Iceland’s fishermen landed 113,094 metric tons (MT) of fish and shellfish last month, which was 23 percent less than in April 2018, with lower catches in the pelagic, flatfish, and shellfish categories.
According to preliminary data compiled by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries, last month’s demersal catch of 49,076 MT was on par with a year previously, while the pelagic, flatfish, and shellfish landings totaled 61,069 MT (down 35 percent), 1,859 MT (down 15 percent) and 1,089 MT (down 32 percent), respectively.
Within the demersal category, the cod catch was down 2 percent to 22,980 MT. Also, landings of saithe (6,159 MT) and redfish (5,805 MT) fell by 18 percent and 20 percent, respectively, while haddock was up 93 percent to 7,595 MT.
With a month of zero capelin and herring, and very little mackerel caught, the pelagic catch almost entirely comprised blue whiting. The 60,855 MT of this species was 35 percent lower than in April 2018.
The authority’s figures also confirmed that the total May 2018 to April 2019 catch stood at less than 1.2 million MT, which was down 12 percent year-on-year. Within this total, there were increases in the demersal, flatfish, and shellfish species groups of 2 percent, 8 percent, and 11 percent respectively, but the total pelagic landings for the 12-month period were down 22 percent to 585,582 MT.
