Aqua Robotics: always clean net

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector globally, now accounting for over half of all fish consumed worldwide. Norway, already the largest producer of farmed Atlantic salmon, contributing to 50% of the global market, has plans to significantly increase production in the coming decades. But that throws up a number of challenges…

Growth and sustainability in aquaculture

“If we want to meet future demand, farmed salmon production needs to increase by approximately 75%,” says Kjetil Storhaug Njærheim, CEO of Aqua Robotics. “Farmed fishing has the potential to be a more sustainable and preferable option compared to wild-caught fish and our goal is to develop technology that improves the aquaculture industry in terms of sustainability, fish welfare, and profitability.” One of the primary challenges they focus on is the cleaning of nets, a historically difficult problem to solve.

Technological advancements

Why clean the nets? On average, a farmed fish net has a circumference of 200 meters and carries around 1000 tonne of fish. Norway alone operates approximately 4000 of these Atlantic Ocean pens.  That’s a lot of fish. And a lot of nets. “It’s important not to allow waste (fouling) to build up on the nets because it blocks water circulation, resulting in increased fish mortality.” Today, typically, nets are cleaned using high-pressure jetting machines, but this method leaves behind a lot of stress for the fish, external sources of biomass from other regions and resultσ in a low-quality environment for the fish both during and after operation.

Better health, fewer emissions

To deal with this problem, Aqua Robotics has developed an innovative solution: “We created a robot that uses brushes to continuously clean the net,” explains Mr. Njærheim. Acting a bit like a lawn mower that is constantly keeping the grass short, Aqua Robotics’ HALO system has a number of important benefits, including “better fish health and higher growth rates, because the system cleans gently without using high pressure or noisy pumps that can stress the fish,” Kjetil explains. “The system also reduces CO2 emissions because there is no need for vessels to visit the facilities for cleaning, with each net pen saving 24 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year. This is the most polluting aspect, and it can be addressed using robots and renewable energy.” 

Prospects and market expansion

By early 2025, Aqua Robotics had 150 of these robots ready to cover the demand in the coming year. “We’re renting out the robots, providing a full service. We’re convinced that using technology to ensure the net is clean will become the standard approach.” With a loan from DNB backed by the EIF through the InvestEU programme, Aqua Robotics is gearing up to produce more robots to meet future demand from countries strong in the North-Atlantic fishing trade, such as Scotland, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands. Beyond these nations, Canada, New Zealand, and China have also shown interest in their cleaning solutions. “We’re working towards having a 20% market cap by 2028,” Kjetil adds.

Location: Bryne, Western Norway 
Financial Intermediary: DNB
SME: Aqua Robotics
Sector: fisheries
Number of employees: 25
Financing purpose: expansion
EU financing: InvestEU