Huawei won World AI Cannes Festival Prize for protecting Atlantic salmon

Huawei and its partners won the Neurons Awards Special Jury Prize at World AI Cannes Festival 2023. This team won for an AI-based solution designed to protect endangered wild Atlantic salmon native to Norway.

According to the information, Wild Atlantic salmon are an integral part of Norway’s identity, culture, and economy. However, its numbers have halved since the 1980s due to the proliferation of Pacific salmon (also known as pink or humpback salmon), an invasive species that out-competes its Atlantic cousin for resources and spawns in great numbers.

In 2021, Huawei partnered with Berlevag Jeger-og Fiskerforening (BJFF), a local association of hunters and anglers. It is to design and deploy an AI-based filtering system to prevent the spread of Pacific salmon in Norway’s rivers, with the pilot project taking place in Storelva River in Berlevag.

The solution uses underwater video technology and AI to identify Pacific salmon, with an automated gate system filtering the invasive species into a holding tank and preventing them from swimming upstream to breed. The system lets wild Atlantic salmon and Arctic red-spotted salmon pass through to complete their breeding cycles.

It also preserves local biodiversity, safeguarding wild Atlantic salmon is crucial to Norway’s fishery industry as the genes for farmed salmon are pulled from wild salmon.

“Norway’s wild salmon are threatened by other species, including humpback salmon and escaped farmed salmon. The monitoring system using AI is helping to stop this and enable future-proof river management,” said Tor Schulstad, Administrator for BJFF.

For this project, Huawei provided Ascend computing solutions, while its partners developed a recognition algorithm and automated sorting mechanism.

“It has been a very exciting and motivating project to be a part of. At Simula Consulting we strive to make deep tech available to everyone, and it’s heartening to see that that can include wildlife,” said Dr. Omar Richardson, Acting Chief Technology Officer for Simula Consulting.

Launched this year, the Neurons Awards Special Jury Prize recognizes projects that use AI for the common good and the creation of a better future. The winner is selected by a jury consisting of 12 representatives from the business world, academia, and the political community.