The volume of fish and shellfish landed by the Icelandic fishing fleet decreased by 1% or 428 tonnes in June 2023 to a total 34,837 tonnes, according to preliminary figures for the month gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries.

Haddock

Haddock

Haddock was the only species in the demersal category to increase in catch volume in June 2023

The drop was mainly attributed to a depleted demersal catch versus June 2022. This fell 5% to 29,739 tonnes, with the cod volume slipping 2% to 15,338 tonnes, saithe down 18% to 3,596 tonnes and redfish falling 16% to 3,734 tonnes. However, the haddock catch climbed 58% year-on-year to 3,922 tonnes.

Last month’s total pelagic volume increased 54% to 1,974 tonnes. This was mostly due to a 208% rise in the mackerel catch, which totalled 1,937 tonnes. Aside from mackerel, just 34 tonnes of blue whiting and 3 tonnes of herring was caught, while no capelin catch was recorded for the month.

Meanwhile, Iceland’s flatfish catch increased by 12% to 2,708 tonnes, and its shellfish landings climbed 27% to 416 tonnes.

The Directorate of Fisheries’ data also determined that the July 2022 to June 2023 catch totalled 1,345,959 tonnes, which was 10% less than in the previous 12-month period. There were decreases in the demersal (-8% to 408,479 tonnes) and pelagic (-12% to 906,783 tonnes) categories. Shellfish landings increased 7% on the previous 12 months at 6,176 tonnes, and the total flatfish landings lifted 11% to 24,424 tonnes.

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