The amount of fuel imported to Bermuda fell by almost 50 per cent in 2020 as the island dealt with the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to the 2021 Environmental Statistics Compendium, released on Friday, 96.5 million kilograms of fuel were shipped to the island in 2020 compared to 184.8 million kilograms the previous year – a 47.8 per cent drop.

The value of the fuel imported meanwhile fell by more than 70 per cent from $97.6 million in 2019 to $25.5 million in 2020.

Island-wide electricity usage also fell slightly year on year from 554 million kWh in 2019 to 518 million kWh in 2020, continuing a downward trend.

While residential electricity use increased by almost 5 million kWh during the period, the change was offset by a 39 million kWh decrease in the commercial sector.

The Compendium also contained figures about a number of topics including rainfall, waste generation and annual fish catch – which fell by 5.8 per cent between 2019 and 2020.

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2021 Environmental Statistics CompendiumFINAL.pdf

The figures showed 354.6 metric tonnes of fish – including shellfish and bait fish – were caught in 2020 compared to 376.6 metric tonnes in 2019.

While the number of jacks and related species increased from 41.6 tonnes to 53.5 tonnes, it was offset by declines in snappers, grouper, tuna and pelagic fish catches.

Fishermen also reported spending less time at sea – while the number of fishing licences rose from 167 to 172 between 2019 and 2020, the total hours at sea fell from 68,868 to 67,325 during the same period.