ICELANDIC FISH CATCHES DROPPED LAST MONTH

Icelandic fish catches dropped last month. The fish catch of Icelandic vessels in July 2020 was about 90 thousand tonnes. The total catch of demersal species was 31 thousand tonnes, 18% less than in July last year. Pelagic catch was 56 thousand tonnes.

Total catch in the 12 month period from August 2019 to July 2020 amounted to 994 thousand tonnes which is 8% less than in the same period one year earlier. The value index of catch in July 2020 is 14% lower than in July 2019.

Meanwhile, the total catch of Icelandic vessels in 2019 was 1.047.568 tonnes which is 17% less than in 2018. The reduction of catch is mainly due to less pelagic catch. The first sale value of catch increased by 13.4% between years and amounted to 145 billion ISK in 2019.

Of demersal species the catch was 480 thousand tonnes which is the same as in 2018. First sale value of the demersal catch was 112.3 billion ISK which is 24% higher than in 2018. Cod was the main species in 2019 and was also the most valuable species. The cod catch was 273 thousand tonnes with a value of 70 billion ISK.

Catch of pelagic species was 534 thousand tonnes in 2019, which is 27.7% less catch than in 2018. Of pelagic species the catch of mackerel was highest, about 268 thousand tonnes. The first sale value of pelagic species consisted of mackerel, about 8.5 billion ISK, blue whiting 7.2 billion ISK and herring 5.9 billion ISK.

Flatfish catch was 22 thousand tonnes in 2019, 18.1% less than in previous year. The first sale value of flatfish was 9.3 billion ISK which is 8.3% lower than in 2018. Finally, the catch of shellfish species was 10 thousand tonnes compared to 12.5 thousand tonnes in 2018. The value of shellfish catch was 1.9 billion ISK, 28.5% less than in 2018.