Pelagic catches drive 28% hike in Iceland’s October landings

Icelandic vessels caught 99,264t of fish in October, a 28% hike from October last year (77,602t), according to figures from Statistics Iceland.

This was driven by a 35% increase in pelagic catches, which were up from nearly 37,000t to 49,800t.

Demersal catches were up by nearly 20% to 46,000t. Half of this consisted of cod, an increase of 27% from last year. Haddock, saithe and redfish made up the rest.

On the basis of constant prices the catch volume was up by 19.5% compared with October 2011, said Iceland statistics.