Nordlaks adopts Greenfox Marine ultrasound system for automatic gender sorting.
Nordlaks Smolt has signed an agreement with Greenfox Marine to install the company’s automatic ultrasound-based gender sorting and health assessment technology in its smolt operations.
The system, which will be supplied in collaboration with vaccination equipment manufacturer Lumic, will be integrated into Nordlaks’ existing vaccination process. It combines a vision system to analyse external characteristics, ultrasound channels to examine internal organs, and a sorting unit that separates fish by gender, size, and health profile.
The solution ordered by Nordlaks will handle fish weighing between 20 and 500 grams, at speeds of up to 20,000 fish per hour.
“We see this as a good solution for monitoring and improving fish health, while also streamlining our production,” says Øivind Skjevling, COO of Nordlaks Smolt AS.
According to Greenfox Marine, the system allows gender sorting and health indexing to be carried out in a single pass, using existing handling steps such as vaccination, without adding stress for the fish.
“The major advancements of our technology in recent years, means that gender sorting and health indexing of farmed fish can be seamlessly incorporated into already existing processes, such as vaccination, without further stressing the fish,” says Eivind Leirvik Nergaard, biotechnologist at Greenfox Marine.
Greenfox Marine says customers using its gender sorting technology have collectively increased production and harvest weight by more than 4,000 tonnes. The company links the improvements to tailoring production to fish biology, including operating single-gender cages so that the sexual maturation of male fish no longer determines harvest timing for females.
“It is well documented that farmers who gender sort their fish, achieve lower mortality, fewer wounds, and fewer injuries to their fish. Sex sorting is a suitable and important measure, which contributes to the Norwegian government’s goal of 5% mortality on farmed fish,” says Erling Aspen, CEO of Greenfox Marine.
By monitoring health indicators such as nephrocalcinosis and early sexual maturation, farmers can intervene earlier and adjust treatments and handling routines to the robustness of each cage, Aspen adds.
Nordlaks will also act as a pilot customer for a planned extension of the system, a dedicated station for heart examinations.
Greenfox Marine, which won the Innovation Award 2025 at the Aqua Nor trade fair in August, reports strong interest in the technology from both Norwegian and international aquaculture companies. The company has recently signed several contracts for fully integrated vaccination line solutions as well as kit configurations that can be combined with existing vaccination machines.
“Within five years, we believe that 95% of the industry will be gender sorting salmon,” Aspen says.
