According to preliminary statistics the total catch of Icelandic vessels was 1,259 thousand tonnes in 2018, which is a 82 thousand tonnes increase from 2017. The increaese between years is mostly due to more demersal catch as well as increased catch of blue-whiting. Nearly 293 thousand tonnes of blue-whiting were caught in 2018 compared with 229 thousand tonnes in 2017. Demersal catch was nearly 481 thousand tonnes last year which is a 12% increase from 2017. As usually, cod catch is the largest part of the demersal species, where nearly 481 thousand tonnes were caught in 2018 which is 9% more than the year before. Flatfish catch also incresed by 24% between years and shellfish increased by 20%.
In December 2018, the catch was just 57 thousand tonnes, an decrease of 19% compared with December 2017. Cod catch was however 15% less than in 2017 and catch of pelagic species decreased by 23%. Comparing December 2018 to December 2017 there was a decrease of 16.5% at fixed price.
| Fish catch | ||||||
| Desember | January-December | |||||
| 2017 | 2018 | % | 2017 | 2018 | % | |
| Fish catch at constant prices | ||||||
| Index | 65 | 54 | -16,5 | 87 | 81 | -8 |
| Fish catch in tonnes | ||||||
| Total catch | 70.213 | 56.709 | -19 | 1.176.889 | 1.259.081 | 13 |
| Demersal catch | 32.271 | 27.288 | -15 | 428.967 | 480.660 | 12 |
| Cod | 20.024 | 17.408 | -13 | 252.755 | 274.909 | 9 |
| Haddock | 2.960 | 3.714 | 25 | 36.194 | 48.661 | 34 |
| Saithe | 3.973 | 3.674 | -8 | 49.349 | 66.273 | 34 |
| Redfish | 3.391 | 1.630 | -52 | 58.550 | 58.077 | -1 |
| Other demersal catch | 1.924 | 861 | -55 | 32.119 | 32.740 | 2 |
| Flatfish | 961 | 829 | -14 | 21.927 | 27.150 | 24 |
| Pelagic catch | 36.601 | 28.228 | -23 | 715.539 | 738.738 | 3 |
| Herring | 5.186 | 4.708 | -9 | 124.270 | 123.893 | 0 |
| Capelin | 0 | 0 | - | 196.832 | 186.333 | -5 |
| Blue whiting | 31.415 | 23.520 | -25 | 228.927 | 292.952 | 28 |
| Mackerel | 0 | 0 | - | 165.510 | 135.560 | -18 |
| Other pelagic catch | 0 | 0 | -100 | 0 | 0 | -92 |
| Shellfish | 379 | 365 | -4 | 10.422 | 12.524 | 20 |
| Other species | 0 | 0 | - | 35 | 9 | -73 |
Information about catch of fish which are published in this press release are preliminary figures. The data is gathered by the Directorate of Fisheries.