The total volume of fish and shellfish landed by Icelandic vessels last year amounted to 1,067,000 metric tons (MT), which was 252,000 MT less than in 2015. In value terms, these landings totaled ISK 133 billion (USD 1.3 billion, EUR 1.1 billion), down 12.1 percent, Statistics Iceland has confirmed.
While Iceland’s demersal catch increased by 4.7 percent to 456,000 MT last year, its value fell by 9.9 percent to ISK 92.6 billion (USD 871.2 million, EUR 743 million).
Largely due to a 252,000 MT decrease in the capelin catch, the pelagic catch dropped by 275,000 MT to a total 575,000 MT last year. The value of this catch category was down 19.6 percent to ISK 27.8 billion (USD 261.5 million, EUR 223.1 million).
Also in 2016, Iceland landed approximately 24,000 MT of flatfish, which was an increase of 1.9 percent from 2015, but the value of these landings decreased by 7.9 percent to ISK 9.1 billion (USD 85.6 million, EUR 73 million). Similarly, its shellfish catch spiked by 23.7 percent to 12,500 MT, but the value fell by ISK 500 million (USD 4.7 million, EUR 4 million) to ISK 3.5 billion (USD 32.9 million, EUR 28.1 million).
