The Icelandic fishing fleet landed 1.3 million metric tons (MT) of seafood in 2015, an increase of 22.5 percent or 243,000 MT compared with the previous year, earning the industry ISK 151 billion (USD 1.3 billion, EUR 1.1 billion), up almost 15 percent, according to new figures published by Statistics Iceland.
While the country’s total demersal catch grew by a modest 2.9 percent to 435,628 MT, with increases in its cod, haddock, saithe and redfish landings, the vastly improved total catch was largely due to a 36.4 percent increase in pelagic landings.
The fleet landed 850,170 MT of pelagic fish last year, including 230,826 MT of capelin, which was 218.3 percent more than in 2014. It also landed 23,485 MT of flatfish, an increase of 22.1 percent.
The only category to post a drop in harvest was the shellfish sector, which saw landings fall 8.8 percent to 10,112 MT.
