Nordlaks is set to roll out award-winning automated ultrasound technology from Greenfox Marine, becoming the latest major Norwegian producer to adopt AI-driven gender sorting as part of routine smolt operations. The system, which integrates directly into Nordlaks’ existing vaccination line, will allow the company to sort fish by gender, size and health profile at speeds of up to 20,000 per hour.
The move marks another strong step for Greenfox Marine, whose AI-enabled ultrasound platform won the 2025 Aqua Nor Innovation Award and has since attracted significant interest from salmon farmers in Norway and abroad.
Developed in partnership with sister company Lumic, the solution combines a vision system that analyses external features with ultrasound channels that assess internal organs. The result is a fully automated process that performs gender sorting and health indexing without adding extra stress to smolt.
“We see this as a good solution for monitoring and improving fish health, while also streamlining our production,” said Øivind Skjevling, COO of Nordlaks Smolt AS.
Greenfox Marine biotechnologist Eivind Leirvik Nergaard said recent advances mean producers can now embed gender sorting into processes already happening on the farm. “Gender sorting and health indexing can be seamlessly incorporated into existing processes – such as vaccination – without further stressing the fish,” he said.
According to Greenfox Marine CEO Erling Aspen, farms using gender sorting have consistently achieved lower mortality, fewer injuries and improved robustness across cages. Sorting fish by sex also reduces stress levels during the seawater phase.
“It is well documented that farmers who gender sort their fish achieve lower mortality, fewer wounds and fewer injuries,” Aspen said. “Sex sorting is a suitable and important measure that contributes to the Norwegian government’s goal of 5% mortality on farmed fish.”
Health monitoring through the same platform allows producers to detect challenges such as nephrocalcinosis and early maturation at an early stage, enabling timely measures and operational adjustments.
Nordlaks will also pilot a forthcoming Greenfox feature – a dedicated heart-examination station – to further expand preventive health assessment.
Production gains by farming ‘on the salmon’s terms’
Greenfox Marine says its customers have already increased production and harvest weights by more than 4,000 tonnes thanks to gender-sorted systems. Female salmon, often more robust and higher-yielding, can be kept longer in the sea while males – which mature earlier – are harvested sooner.
“Harvest timing no longer has to be dictated by the males,” Aspen said. “Female fish can stay in production until they reach the desired weight, improving fillet yield and quality.”
Nordlaks’ Skjevling said the company is eager to apply the technology beyond gender sorting alone: “We look forward to using the technology and having the opportunity to monitor fish health in a better way.”
Greenfox Marine’s award win at Aqua Nor has accelerated interest in its ultrasound platform, with the company now signing multiple new contracts. Orders span fully integrated vaccination-line systems as well as modular “kit solutions” compatible with existing machinery.
Aspen believes the adoption curve will steepen rapidly. “Within five years, we believe that 95% of the industry will be gender sorting salmon,” he said.
