The total catch of Icelandic vessels in 2016 was 1,069.6 thousand tonnes which is 247 thousand tonnes less than in 2015. The decrease is mostly due to considerably lower capelin catch. Demersal catch was 457 thousand tonnes and increased by 4% from the previous year. Most of the demersal catch was cod, 264 thousand tonnes. Pelagic catch was 576 thousand tonnes which is a decrease of 32% compared with 2015. Herring and blue whiting were the main species in pelagic catch. The total catch of flatfish increased by 2% and – shellfish catch increased by 26% between years.
The total catch of Icelandic vessels in December 2016 was over 59 thousand tonnes which is a 20% increase from December 2015. Demersal catch was 26 thousand tonnes, 14% less than in December 2015. Cod catch in December was 16 thousand tonnes, a decrease of 20 %. Pelagic catch was 32 thousand tonnes which is an increase of 83% compared with December 2015. Blue whiting was the main species in pelagic catch, about 19 thousand tonnes while herring catch was 13 thousand tonnes.
The value index in December was 5.5% lower than in December 2015.
| Fish catch | ||||||
| December | January-December | |||||
| 2015 | 2016 | % | 2015 | 2016 | % | |
| Fish catch at constant prices | ||||||
| Index | 57.9 | 54.7 | -5.5 | 88.2 | 84.0 | -4.8 |
| Fish catch in tonnes | ||||||
| Total catch | 49,775 | 59,482 | 20 | 1,317,143 | 1,069,595 | -19 |
| Demersal catch | 30,583 | 26,365 | -14 | 438,064 | 456,929 | 4 |
| Cod | 19,773 | 15,908 | -20 | 244,463 | 264,355 | 8 |
| Haddock | 3,292 | 2,287 | -31 | 40,994 | 38,580 | -6 |
| Saithe | 2,083 | 2,630 | 26 | 48,217 | 49,631 | 3 |
| Redfish | 3,371 | 4,094 | 21 | 58,508 | 63,651 | 9 |
| Other demersal catch | 2,064 | 1,446 | -30 | 45,882 | 40,712 | -11 |
| Flatfish | 1,364 | 803 | -41 | 23,540 | 23,939 | 2 |
| Pelagic catch | 17,480 | 32,064 | 83 | 845,415 | 575,921 | -32 |
| Herring | 8,697 | 13,212 | 52 | 109,355 | 117,398 | 7 |
| Capelin | 0 | 0 | - | 352,866 | 101,089 | -71 |
| Blue whiting | 8,783 | 18,852 | 115 | 214,870 | 186,915 | -13 |
| Mackerel | 0 | 0 | - | 168,279 | 170,514 | 1 |
| Other pelagic catch | 0 | 0 | - | 45 | 5 | -88 |
| Shellfish | 348 | 250 | -28 | 10,069 | 12,720 | 26 |
| Other species | 0 | 0 | - | 54 | 86 | 57 |
Information about catch of fish which are published in this press release are preliminary figures. The data is gathered by the Directorate of Fisheries.