The Norwegian company’s solution combines medical ultrasound with artificial intelligence to achieve revolutionary technology for gender sorting of fish
GreenFox Marine is the winner of the Nor Fishing Foundation’s Innovation Award, which was announced during the opening ceremony of Aqua Nor 2025. The Norwegian company has developed revolutionary technology for gender sorting of fish, which has shown promising results with improved growth and lower mortality rates in sea cages, along with fewer wounds and injuries to the fish.
The company’s solution combines medical ultrasound with artificial intelligence (AI). The technology is non-invasive and represents an international breakthrough for automatic gender sorting of fish.
Erling Aspen, CEO of GreenFox Marine explained after the award ceremony that the Innovation Award means a lot for the company: “We’re a relatively small business, so it’s particularly inspiring for us to be chosen as winners – in competition with other very strong and innovative nominees.”
The Nor-Fishing Foundation’s Innovation Award is given based on a product, process or other concrete measures that can make a difference when it comes to sustainability, efficiency, security or quality in the industry. The winner of the award is handed USD 9,944.25 and a diploma.
External and Internal Health Conditions
By combining gender sorting with integrated, non-invasive health screening, the new technology offers insight into both external and internal health conditions. This gives the technology a new dimension, with the possibility of early sorting of weak/sick fish with low robustness early in the production process.
“Being chosen by the jury as winners of the award can contribute to more visibility for us and strengthen the knowledge the market has about us. In the fall we will launch the next generation of our machine, so the timing of this award is very good for us,” said Kjersti Jullum, Sales and Marketing Manager of GreenFox, who received the award alongside Aspen. She is well aware that previous winners have received a lot of attention after receiving the award.
Development of High-Resolution Ultrasound Equipment
GreenFox Marine was established in 2020 as a spin-off of GreenFox, which was established in 2016. Based on GreenFox’s control system technology and the development of high-resolution ultrasound equipment from Aurotech Ultrasound, the idea emerged for a system that could separate smolt by gender.
This technology and the experience of their founder, Roger Gullikstad, in the development of high-resolution ultrasound equipment at Aurotech Ultrasound was the point of departure for GreenFox Marine. Although several areas of application were evaluated, combining GreenFox technology with the use of high- resolution ultrasound, gender-sorting of fish stood out as being the most relevant.
Their team’s expertise covers electronics development, high-resolution ultrasound, mechanics automation and artificial intelligence (AI). This has moved us forward, with a strong focus on implementation and time to market.
A Forum for Professional Development
The Nor-Fishing Foundation is a non-profit organization, founded by and run on behalf of the Norwegian Seafood Federation. Through a variety of activities, the Nor-Fishing Foundation contribute to and promote development in the maritime sector – regularly hosting international trade exhibition and exhibitions in Norway. The Foundation organizes the exhibitions Nor-Fishing and Aqua Nor in Trondheim, Norway.
The two exhibitions are international meeting places for professionals in the two industries. Today, Nor-Fishing and Aqua Nor are two of the world’s largest technology exhibitions in fisheries and aquaculture.
Nor-Fishing was first held in 1960, and Aqua Nor for the first time in 1979. The exhibitions are an important arena for development, innovation and marketing in the Norwegian industry. In addition, they have become a forum for professional development, where conferences and seminars are organized with professional content concerning the latest technological developments in the industry.
The exhibitions are organized for the fisheries and aquaculture industries, attracting visitors and exhibitors from fishing boats, fish farms and the technology and innovation companies, as well as representatives from boardrooms and political industry management.
The Nor-Fishing Foundation, responsible for the exhibitions Nor-Fishing and Aqua Nor, was established by the Norwegian Parliament as an independent institution in 1992, after the exhibitions had been organized for many years through a collaboration between the Ministry of Fisheries, the Directorate of Fisheries and interest groups in the industry.
