Lower whitefish and pelagic landings led the total volume of fish landed by Iceland’s fishing fleet to fall by 8% or more than 7,500 tonnes year-on-year in October 2025 to 88,481 tonnes, according to preliminary figures for the month gathered by Statistics Iceland.
The demersal catch decreased by 7% compared with October 2024 to 37,181 tonnes, with cod, haddock and redfish catches falling 11%, 8% and 7%, respectively, to 19,579 tonnes, 8,494 tonnes and 3,384 tonnes. The saithe volume, meanwhile, lifted 34% to 3,893 tonnes.
At the same time, Iceland’s flatfish volume fell 19% to 1,616 tonnes, and its shellfish catch increased 108% to 308 tonnes.
The total pelagic volume decreased 8% to 49,376 tonnes. Of this, the herring catch increased 97% year-on-year to 39,037 tonnes, but the blue whiting total fell 69% to 10,338 tonnes. No mackerel or capelin landings were recorded last month.
The data also found the November 2024 to October 2025 catch totalled 1,031,254 tonnes, which was 6% more than in the previous 12-month period. It found a 13% rise in the pelagic catch to 589,263 tonnes, but decreases in the demersal, flatfish and shellfish fisheries, which amounted to 417,522 tonnes (-1%), 20,787 tonnes (-13%) and 3,549 tonnes (-10%), respectively.
There was a 4% dip in the 12-month cod catch at 217,728 tonnes, while the haddock and saithe totals both slipped 2% year-on-year to 82,204 tonnes and 38,246 tonnes, respectively. The redfish volume increased 6% to 42,739 tonnes.
Iceland’s pelagic catch for the period included a 45% lift in the mackerel volume, which reached 129,621 tonnes, and a 28% rise in herring at 168,573 tonnes. The blue whiting total fell 5% to 289,301 tonnes.
