A new report on the loss of fish reveals that more than 3,000 tons of cod and haddock were tossed overboard last year—1,090 tons of haddock and 1,935 tons of cod. While most of this fish is too small according to regular standards, it is still worth millions.
Icelandic cod. Copyright: Icelandic Photo Agency.
Undersized fish is known as undirmálsfiskur in Icelandic and is of low value. Fishermen don’t want to waste their quota on such catch and therefore toss it overboard to make room for more valuable fish.
However, according to sales figures for undersized fish last year, approximately ISK 345 million (USD 2.8 million, EUR 1.7 million) could have been obtained for the lost catch—ISK 173 million (USD 1.4 million, EUR 866,000) for the cod and ISK 213 million (USD 1.7 million, EUR 1.1 million) for the haddock.
