Camanchaca reports successful trial of Aquaticode’s AI-powered gender-sorting system

Birkirkara, Malta-based Aquaticode has introduced a new AI-powered gender-sorting system for farmed salmon.

Aquaticode’s SORTpro system is designed to categorize up to 10,000 juvenile salmon per hour based on gender and other performance traits. The system has been trialed since 2021 by Salmones Camanchaca and found to have a 97 percent accuracy rate, with no increase in mortality rates.

"Innovation is central to our strategy at Camanchaca," Camanchaca Research and Development Head Carlos Soto said. "Artificial intelligence is emerging as one of the most promising megatrends in food production. We are quick to support initiatives that can lead to more efficient and sustainable salmon farming."

The SORTpro system “has proven to promote faster growth in both male and female batches compared to mixed groups,” according to Aquaticode CEO Stian Rognlid.

“By automating this procedure, Aquaticode not only enhances flexibility, efficiency, and accuracy, but also extends gender sorting capabilities to regions where high labour costs previously prohibited such practices,” Rognlid said in a press release. “Camanchaca, [which] historically sorts around 15 million fish per year, have given us invaluable support in bringing our solution to the market. We appreciate their openness in sharing their facilities and expertise with us.”

Aquaticode was founded by Nacre Capital, a venture builder focusing on developing solutions incorporating artificial intelligence within the life sciences sector. In 2022, it netted a USD 6 million (EUR 6 million) investment to allow it to expand the development and sales of its artificial intelligence and machine learning solutions for the aquaculture industry. The firm is being advised by former Biomar CEO Torben Svejgaard and Einar Wathne, formerly the head of aquaculture at Cargill and current chair of the NCE Seafood Innovation Cluster.

"It was easy to get behind Aquaticode’s mission," Wathne said. "Making decisions based on individual fish analysis and acting in real-time is the future of salmon farming. It's about growing better fish as well as growing fish better."

Rognlid said next steps for his company include an upgrade to SORTpro to give it additional functionality in identifying additional fish growth, health, and robustness traits in juvenile farmed salmon.

"The SORTpro is a platform. In the near to medium term, we will introduce functionality to identify additional fish growth, health, and robustness traits," he said. “Each of these will bring significant value to farmers, but we truly believe that the sum is even greater than the parts."

Photo courtesy of Aquaticode