Another steep drop in the pelagic catch – for the second month in a row – led the total volume of fish and shellfish landed by Iceland’s fishing fleet in August 2024 to fall by 31% or more than 35,050 tonnes year-on-year to 80,347 tonnes, according to preliminary figures for the month gathered by the country’s Directorate of Fisheries.
Last month’s pelagic volume decreased 43% year-on-year to 45,398 tonnes, with a 63% lower herring catch (2,892 tonnes) and 41% less mackerel (41,623 tonnes). The blue whiting catch fell 23% to just 883 tonnes, while no capelin was recorded.
Iceland’s demersal landings were on par with August 2023 at 32,152 tonnes, with the cod and haddock catches rising 7% and 22% respectively, to 13,548 tonnes and 6,924 tonnes. The saithe and redfish volumes slipped 31% and 9 percent, respectively, to 3,869 tonnes and 5,379 tonnes.
Meanwhile, Iceland’s flatfish volume in August was down 10% to 2,382 tonnes and its shellfish catch dropped 58% to 415 tonnes.
The Directorate of Fisheries’ data also determined the September 2023 to August 2024 catch totalled 1,021,326 tonnes, which was 30% less than in the previous 12-month period. It found decreases in pelagic, flatfish and shellfish fisheries, amounting to 574,468 tonnes (-44%), 22,580 tonnes (-6%) and 4,425 tonnes (-20%), respectively.
Iceland’s demersal catch for the period increased 4%, thanks largely to a 36% upturn in the haddock volume, which reached 82,954 tonnes. Cod catches totalled 222,542 tonnes, almost the same as in the previous 12 months.
It was recently confirmed that the total volume of fish and shellfish landed by the fleet in 2023 fell by 3% or almost 40,000 tonnes compared to the previous year to 1,374,825 tonnes, but that the value of these catches increased by 1% to more than ISK 197.3 billion.
With a volume of 402,342 tonnes, 2023’s demersal catch value amounted to ISK 125.9 billion – both down 7% year-on-year. The volume of pelagic fish caught by the fleet fell 1% to 946,053 tonnes but the value increased 22% to ISK 58.1 billion. Flatfish catches increased 8% in volume and 16% in value to 20,617 tonnes and ISK 12.2 billion, and the shellfish volume fell 5% year-on-year to 5,765 tonnes but held on to its value of ISK 1.2 billion.
