Iceland fishing revenues down
REVENUES from catches by Iceland’s fishing fleet fell by more than 17 per cent last year despite higher volumes, says the government body Statistics Iceland.
No explanation is given but the three month long strike by the country’s deep sea fishermen, which stretched into January and February 2017, will have had some negative impact on earnings.
Icelandic vessels hauled in catches worth 1,177,000 tonnes, 109,000 tonnes higher than in 2016. The total revenue was 110 billion Icelandic kroners (ISK) – £795 million – 17.3 per cent down on the previous year.
In total, almost 426,000 tonnes of demersal fish were caught in 2017, which is 30,000 tonnes less than the previous year.
The catch value of the bottom fish fleet amounted to ISK 76 billion (£550 million), declining 17.7 per cent from 2016.
Pelagic catches totalled 718,000 tonnes last year, up by 143,000 tonnes, which was largely due to an increase in the catch of capelin. From this, the pelagic fleet earned ISK 23.8 billion (£172 million), a decline of 14.6 per cent.
Catches of flatfish fell by 8.4 per cent to almost 22,000 tonnes and was worth ISK 7.5 billion (around £54 million), down by just over 17 per cent.
It is no secret that the Icelandic shellfish industry has been having problems due to declining stocks. Catches of shellfish and crustaceans totalled 10,600 tonnes, a drop of 15.5 per cent on 2016. But earnings fell by almost ISK 1.1 billion to ISK 2.4 billion (around £17 million).
Export revenues from marine products, which includes seafood of all types, also fell last year. The total figure was ISK 197 billion (£1.425 billion), down by 15.2 per cent on 2016.
Meanwhile, the outlook is for exports of Icelandic seafood products to increase by 7.5 per cent this year, the highest growth rate since 2013, according to the Central Bank of Iceland Monetary Bulletin.
It is 3.5 percentage points higher than expected in the May forecast, mainly due to higher fishing in the first half of the year and increased fishing quotas for the new fishing year, which began this month.
