The value of fish and shellfish caught by the Icelandic fishing fleet in August totaled ISK 11.9 billion (USD 115.2 million, EUR 96.9 million), down more than 8 percent compared with a year previously. Reduced earnings were seen in both its pelagic and shellfish landings, but greater values were achieved in the demersal and flatfish categories, according to the latest figures issued by Statistics Iceland.
Iceland’s demersal catch value for the eighth month increased by 2.4 percent to almost ISK 6.8 billion (USD 65.8 million, EUR 55.4 million), with cod’s value rising by 6.5 percent compared with August 2016 to ISK 4 billion (USD 38.7 million, EUR 32.6 million) and redfish up 18.3 percent to ISK 1.1 billion (USD 10.6 million, EUR 9 million). The haddock and saithe catch values, however, fell 9.7 percent and 8.6 percent respectively to ISK 692.7 million (USD 6.7 million, EUR 5.6 million) and ISK 782.5 million (USD 7.6 million, EUR 6.4 million).
At the same time, the country’s flatfish value jumped almost 11 percent to ISK 1.1 billion.
Its pelagic catch value, meanwhile, decreased by more than 24 percent to ISK 3.7 billion (USD 35.8 million, EUR 30.1 million), mainly due to a 26 percent reduction in the mackerel value at ISK 3.2 billion (USD 31 million, EUR 26.1 million).
The shellfish value fell by 33.7 percent to ISK 285.9 million (USD 2.8 million, EUR 2.3 million).
The accumulated total catch value for the year September 2016 through August 2017 dropped by 19.5 percent year-on-year to ISK 110.8 billion (USD 1.1 billion, EUR 902.2 million), including reductions in the demersal, flatfish and shellfish catch values of 23.9 percent, 22.6 percent and 39.3 percent respectively. The pelagic catch value for the year increased by 2.2 percent to ISK 25.4 billion (USD 246 million, EUR 206.8 million).
During the 12-month period, almost ISK 59 billion (USD 571.5 million, EUR 480.4 million) worth of Iceland’s total catch went directly for domestic processing (down 18.4 percent), while ISK 16.2 billion (USD 156.9 million, EUR 131.9 million) worth was sold at auction for domestic processing (down 19.9 percent). Landings valued at ISK 4.2 billion (USD 40.7 million, EUR 34.2 million) were exported in containers (down 20 percent), and the frozen-at-sea catch fell by more than 20 percent year-on-year to ISK 31.1 billion (USD 301.3 million, EUR 253.2 million).
