Higher whitefish and pelagic landings led the total volume of fish landed in November by Iceland’s fishing fleet to rise by 9% year-on-year or almost 9,000 tonnes to 102,779 tonnes, according to preliminary figures for the month gathered by Statistics Iceland.
The demersal catch increased by 10% compared with November 2024 to 35,724 tonnes, with haddock and saithe catches rising 22%, and 41%, respectively, to 7,519 tonnes and 2,953 tonnes. The cod and redfish volumes, meanwhile, fell 1% and 2% to 18,611 tonnes and 3,303 tonnes, respectively.
At the same time, Iceland’s flatfish volume fell 9% to 1,479 tonnes, and its shellfish catch increased to 291 tonnes.
The total pelagic volume increased 9% to 65,273 tonnes. Of this, the herring catch increased 18% year-on-year to 42,924 tonnes, but the blue whiting total fell 5% to 22,349 tonnes. No mackerel or capelin landings were recorded last month.
The data also found the 12-month December 2024 to November 2025 catch totalled 1,040,076 tonnes, which was up 6% year-on-year. It confirmed a 12% rise in the pelagic catch to 594,763 tonnes and a 1% uplift in demersal landings to 420,776 tonnes. For the same period, the totals for the flatfish and shellfish fisheries amounted to 20,642 tonnes (-14%) and 3,759 tonnes (-1%), respectively.
With regards to key species, there was a 2% dip in the 12-month cod catch at 217,627 tonnes, haddock remained the same at 83,539 tonnes, while the saithe and redfish totals climbed 3% and 6% year-on-year to 39,109 tonnes and 42,653 tonnes, respectively.
Iceland’s pelagic catch for the period included a 45% lift in the mackerel volume, which reached 129,621 tonnes, and a 38% rise in herring at 175,273 tonnes. The blue whiting total fell 10% to 285,101 tonnes.
