The value of catch on first sale was 148.3 billion ISK in the year 2020 which is a 2% increase from the previous year. The total catch of Icelandic vessels, however, decreased by 3% and was 1,021 thousand tonnes in 2020. The export value of fish products (fob) was 270 billion ISK.
| Catch and value of catch in 2019-2020 | ||||||
| Tonnes/million ISK | Catch, January-December | Value of catch, January-December | ||||
| 2019 | 2020 | % | 2019 | 2020 | % | |
| Total | 1,047,568 | 1,021,020 | -3 | 145,076 | 148,341 | 2 |
| By months | ||||||
| January | 46,345 | 35,740 | -23 | 10,703 | 7,459 | -30 |
| February | 73,960 | 51,533 | -30 | 11,177 | 11,987 | 7 |
| March | 118,374 | 93,292 | -21 | 14,357 | 14,857 | 3 |
| April | 112,955 | 88,736 | -21 | 13,695 | 12,729 | -7 |
| May | 122,148 | 125,567 | 3 | 14,049 | 13,044 | -7 |
| June | 31,559 | 61,971 | 96 | 7,780 | 10,926 | 33 |
| July | 95,341 | 89,604 | -6 | 14,222 | 12,926 | -9 |
| August | 113,442 | 130,727 | 15 | 14,472 | 16,952 | 17 |
| September | 109,049 | 119,849 | 10 | 12,510 | 13,868 | 11 |
| October | 91,581 | 86,637 | -5 | 12,107 | 12,741 | 5 |
| November | 69,418 | 63,788 | -8 | 11,326 | 11,250 | -1 |
| December | 63,397 | 73,577 | 16 | 8,678 | 9,603 | 11 |
| By species | ||||||
| Demersal catch | 508,350 | 488,191 | -4 | 112,310 | 113,417 | 1 |
| Cod | 272,989 | 277,511 | 2 | 69,950 | 75,860 | 8 |
| Haddock | 57,747 | 54,214 | -6 | 14,429 | 13,259 | -8 |
| Saithe | 64,681 | 50,450 | -22 | 10,430 | 7,651 | -27 |
| Redfish | 53,380 | 51,947 | -3 | 12,110 | 12,176 | 1 |
| Other demersal fish | 59,553 | 54,069 | -9 | 5,392 | 4,471 | -17 |
| Flatfish | 22,187 | 22,994 | 4 | 9,318 | 9,872 | 6 |
| Pelagic catch | 534,372 | 529,423 | -1 | 21,578 | 23,803 | 10 |
| Herring | 137,930 | 134,163 | -3 | 5,905 | 6,804 | 15 |
| Capelin | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | - |
| Blue whiting | 268,357 | 243,725 | -9 | 7,181 | 7,038 | -2 |
| Mackerel | 128,084 | 151,534 | 18 | 8,491 | 9,960 | - |
| Other pelagic fish | 1 | 1 | -43 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Shellfish | 14,956 | 5,843 | -61 | 1,870 | 1,249 | -33 |
| Lobster | 259 | 194 | -25 | 267 | 206 | -23 |
| Shrimp | 2,920 | 3,127 | 7 | 1,053 | 885 | -16 |
| Other shellfish | 11,778 | 2,522 | -79 | 550 | 158 | -71 |
| Miscellaneous catch | 3 | 5 | 70 | 0 | 0 | - |
| By type of landing | ||||||
| For domestic processing | 788,301 | 768,910 | -2 | 77,319 | 80,736 | 4 |
| To auction markets | 87,578 | 87,577 | 0 | 22,206 | 23,142 | 4 |
| Frozen at sea | 132,606 | 122,450 | -8 | 37,815 | 36,605 | -3 |
| For export in containers | 23,017 | 21,503 | -7 | 6,286 | 6,184 | -2 |
| Other landing types | 16,450 | 20,580 | 123 | 1,232 | 1,675 | 75 |
The catch of demersal species was 488 thousand tonnes in 2020 which is 4% less than in 2019. The value of first sale was 113 billion ISK and increased by 1% from the previous year. Pelagic catch was 530 thousand tonnes, 1% more than in the previous year while the first sale value of pelagic fish increased by 10% from 21.6 billion ISK in 2019 to 23.8 billion ISK in 2020.
About 600 thousand tonnes of fish products were exported in 2020 according to preliminary data. This is 2.5% less than in the previous year. The export value of fish products (fob) was 270 billion ISK as previously mentioned which is 3.7% more than in 2019.
| Export and export values of five most valuable fish products 2019-2020 | |||||||
| 2019 | 2020 | ||||||
| Species | Product category | Tonnes | Million ISK (FOB) | Tonnes | Million ISK (FOB) | Change in quantity % | Change in value % |
| Total | 619,433 | 260,371 | 604,083 | 269,917 | -2.5 | 3.7 | |
| Cod | All categories | 132,174 | 117,521 | 140,026 | 131,877 | 5.9 | 12.2 |
| -Frozen | 53,098 | 41,780 | 51,726 | 46,577 | -2.6 | 11.5 | |
| -Salted | 23,654 | 20,511 | 25,238 | 23,187 | 6.7 | 13.0 | |
| -Fresh/iced | 40,621 | 47,943 | 46,925 | 54,535 | 15.5 | 13.7 | |
| -Dried | 12,126 | 5,735 | 11,985 | 5,893 | -1.2 | 2.8 | |
| -Meal/fish oil | 2,492 | 1,476 | 2,208 | 1,607 | -11.4 | 8.9 | |
| -Other | 137 | 75 | 1,944 | 79 | 1319.0 | 4.7 | |
| Haddock | All categories | 24,375 | 18,213 | 23,825 | 19,735 | -2.3 | 8.4 |
| Saithe | All categories | 32,360 | 13,581 | 26,899 | 11,184 | -16.9 | -17.7 |
| Redfish | All categories | 38,032 | 13,706 | 33,232 | 12,922 | -12.6 | -5.7 |
| Mackerel | All categories | 94,368 | 19,074 | 86,476 | 18,169 | -8.4 | -4.7 |
Of exported fish products frozen cod was 52 thousand tonnes, fresh cod was 47 thousand tonnes and salted cod 25 thousand tonnes. The highest export value was for fresh cod or about 55 billion ISK, 13.7% more than in the year 2019.
The export of mackerel was 86 thousand tonnes with export value (fob) of 18 billion ISK. Exported haddock was 24 thousand tonnes with export value of 19.7 billion ISK.