Icelandic vessels landed 106,000 tonnes of fish in August 2025 – a sharp 32% increase compared with the same month last year, new figures from Statistics Iceland show.
Pelagic species drive the growth
The increase was mainly due to pelagic fish. Landings rose to nearly 74,000 tonnes, up 62% year-on-year. Mackerel dominated with 62,000 tonnes, almost 50% more than last August. Blue whiting also grew strongly, jumping from under 1,000 tonnes to nearly 7,000 tonnes.
Herring showed a more modest gain, reaching 4,600 tonnes compared to 2,900 tonnes last year.
Demersal species in decline
While pelagic stocks surged, demersal catches dropped 7% to 30,000 tonnes. Cod, the single most critical demersal species, fell 1% to 13,500 tonnes. Redfish landings dropped steeply by 26%, while flatfish fell 19%.
Haddock was the exception, up 3% year-on-year.
Twelve-month totals show stability
Looking at the entire twelve-month period from September 2024 to August 2025, the total catch stood at just over 1 million tonnes – a 2% decrease from the previous year.
Within this, demersal species were steady at 420,000 tonnes. The cod catch remained stable at 223,000 tonnes for the year. Haddock and redfish showed modest growth, while saithe fell by 9%.
Pelagic species totalled 555,000 tonnes over the year, down 3%. Capelin was absent, compared with almost 5,000 tonnes in the prior year.
Shellfish painted a mixed picture: August landings rose 22% to just over 500 tonnes, but annual totals fell 22%.
Trends at a glance
- August catch-up is 32% compared to 2024.
- Pelagic catch, especially mackerel, drove the rise.
- Demersal species such as cod and redfish declined.
- Annual totals remained stable at around 1 million tonnes.
- Capelin landings disappeared completely over the year.