The Innovation Award winner for 2024: Ava Ocean

Ava Ocean is the winner of this year’s Innovation Award for their pioneering harvesting tool. The harvesting tool Ava Ray has for the first time in 30 years made it possible to harvest deep-sea scallops in Norwegian sea areas.

The winner was announced during this year’s opening ceremony of Nor-Fishing 2024, marking the start of this year’s exhibition.

“It means a lot to win the Innovation Award,”says CEO and founder of Ava Ocean, Øystein Tvedt, when we chatted with him after the ceremony.

“There is a lot of years of work behind the development, and so many talented people who have been involved in the project. I would like to extend a big thank you to all those who have stood out in the Barents Sea and tested completely new technology under tough conditions – both fishermen and engineers.”

Gentle harvesting of scallops

It all started 8 years ago, when Øystein and five other entrepreneurs wanted to develop a solution that would make it possible to exploit the resources on the seabed to a greater extent. More specifically, they wanted to make it possible to harvest arctic scallops in Norwegian sea areas.

“The result was a harvesting tool consisting of a catch basket that operates just above the seabed, and a pump system that is maneuvered from the boat. The catch basket harvests the shells with the help of a stream of water, to avoid damaging the seabed,” explains Øystein.

A new standard for the industry

Ava Ocean hopes the development of the harvesting tool will help set a new standard in the industry.

“It will of course take time, but we hope that what we are doing in Norway now – together with researchers and the authorities – will be able to reopen the Arctic scallop fishery in Norway, and at the same time influence how the whole world views the harvesting of scallops and other benthic species,” says Øystein, before he concludes:

“Now we’re going to have a few wonderful days here in Trondheim, but I’m going to postpone the big celebration until I’m home. Then I will celebrate with the rest of the team who really deserve this award. We are very grateful that we received this recognition from the jury and Nor-Fishing.”

Underlines the importance of new technology

80 percent of the world’s ocean areas are still undiscovered. In her speech during the Opening Ceremony of Nor-Fishing 2024, Fisheries and Oceans Minister Marianne Sivertsen Næss emphasized the importance of new technology that will make it possible to utilize larger parts of sea resources in the future.

“There are enormous resources in the ocean that are not being utilized today. It is therefore important that we, as a coastal and fishing nation, lead by example and continue to develop technology that allows us to utilize the resources found in the sea in new and better ways.”

The jury’s justification

Ava Ocean has developed a new concept for catching scallops and other organisms from the seabed, without the seabed being negatively affected. Ava Ray is a harvesting tool that can pick shells and other benthic animals from the seabed with high precision in a gentle and efficient way. Furthermore, the tool has undergone thorough testing in recent years and can document good results.

The company can demonstrate good cooperation with central research institutions, administrative apparatus and funding institutions. The technology can help to reopen central fishing areas for commercial fishing by allowing this to be carried out in a gentle way that does not damage the seabed and the environment in general. This enables access to vast resources that are currently not being utilized.