A bumper mackerel haul lifted the total volume of fish landed by Iceland’s fishing fleet in August 2025 by 32% or more than 25,000 tonnes year-on-year to 106,150 tonnes, according to preliminary figures for the month gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries.
The mackerel volume increased by 49% year-on-year to 62,106 tonnes – contributing to a pelagic total of 73,658 tonnes (up 62%). This total also included 4,606 tonnes of herring and 6,946 tonnes of blue whiting. No capelin landings were recorded.
Demersal landings decreased by 7% compared with August 2024 to 30,021 tonnes, with cod, saithe and redfish catches falling 1%, 2% and 26%, respectively, to 13,476 tonnes, 3,776 tonnes and 3,986 tonnes. The haddock catch, meanwhile, lifted 3% to 7,121 tonnes.
At the same time, Iceland’s flatfish volume fell 19% to 1,932 tonnes, and its shellfish catch increased 22% to 507 tonnes.
The Directorate of Fisheries’ data also found the September 2024 to August 2025 catch totalled 1,005,706 tonnes, which was 2% less than in the previous 12-month period. It found decreases in the pelagic, flatfish and shellfish fisheries, which amounted to 554,672 tonnes (-3%), 21,922 tonnes (-3%) and 3,444 tonnes (-22%), respectively.
Iceland’s demersal catch for the period increased 1% to 425,570 tonnes, thanks to a 1% lift in the haddock volume, which reached 84,155 tonnes, and a 9% rise in redfish at 43,942 tonnes. There was no movement in the 12-month cod catch at 223,216 tonnes, while the saithe total slipped 9% year-on-year to 37,043 tonnes.
