Huawei received the GeSI Digital with Purpose (DWP) Award 2024 and the DWP Biodiversity Award 2024 yesterday for its automated filtering system designed to protect wild Atlantic salmon in Norway.
Developed under Huawei’s TECH4ALL initiative with local partners Berlevåg Hunter and Fishermen’s Association (BJFF), Simula Consulting, and Troll Systems, the award-winning solution is able to recognize different fish species and filter out pink salmon, an invasive species that is not native to Norway’s rivers and has had a significant negative impact on native salmon.
“The award of the Grand Prize to Huawei’s AI solution for screening invasive salmon was unanimous among all the judges. Not only for its innovation, but also for the results it has achieved in a short space of time. This system is an example of how technological solutions have the power to contribute to the sustainability of the planet and the preservation of ecosystems,” said Luís Neves, CEO of the Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative (GeSI).
“Huawei committed to the Digital with Purpose initiative in May 2021, pledging to establish practical and incremental steps to become a purpose-led business that has a positive impact on society and our home,” said Joyce Liu, Director of the TECH4ALL Program Office at Huawei. “The technologies and partnerships that safeguard biodiversity and ecosystems not only benefit our planet, but also local communities that depend on natural resources.”
With wild Atlantic salmon an integral part of Norway’s identity, culture, and economy, the urgent need for a solution to the invasive species is recognized on a national scale.
Introduced into rivers bordering Norway in the 1960s, the pink salmon’s rapid reproduction cycle means that increasing numbers of the invasive species flood into Norway‘s river systems every other year as part of its biennial spawning cycle. They aggressively outcompete native salmon for food, introduce disease, and increase the nitrogen content in rivers when they decompose, in turn causing other aquatic life to die.
After two years of development by Huawei and partners, the solution was deployed in pilot projects in Norway’s Kongsfjord and Storelva rivers in 2023. More than 6,000 pink salmon were successfully diverted out of the two rivers during last year’s breeding season.
“The trap has been developed and tested over several seasons, and we are convinced that our AI-based solution is the recipe for future success. Among the many thousands of identifications that we did last year, we identified and caught 100% of the pink salmon, and had an overall identification rate of 99.98,” said Geir Kristiansen, General Manager of BJFF.
How the solution works
The automated filtering solution comprises a river-spanning tunnel, underwater cameras, an automated gate, and an AI algorithm trained to recognize different fish species. When the system recognizes pink salmon, the gate remains closed and diverts the fish into a holding tank. For wild Atlantic salmon and other native species, the gate opens, allowing them to swim upstream to complete their spawning cycle.
Previously, volunteers had to visually identify and manually remove pink salmon, a task that is time- and labor-intensive, error-prone, and results in an average fish injury or death rate of 30%. In contrast, the automated solution cuts manual labor requirements by 90% and all fish are unharmed.
In the Kongsfjord River pilot, the filtering system is solar-powered and connected by 5G, as the site lacks a power supply or network connectivity. The success of the pilot projects means that the solution can potentially be scaled out throughout Norway’s river systems, including those that lack the required infrastructure.
The GeSI Digital with Purpose Global Award aims to highlight and celebrate digital solutions that address human needs, decrease poverty, increase inclusivity, and protect nature in line with the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda (SDGs) and the Half-Earth concept.
