A Smarter Aquaculture Future Starts

with Marine Protection

As global seafood demand grows, aquaculture plays an increasingly vital role in feeding the world. When done right, it offers a scalable, sustainable alternative to overfishing, delivering protein with a lower carbon footprint and reduced pressure on wild stocks.

However, marine life near aquaculture operations and offshore construction sites is often exposed to significant disturbances, from predator conflict and poor waste management to underwater noise pollution. These challenges require innovative, ecosystem-sensitive solutions to ensure that aquaculture and marine conservation go hand in hand.

Sustainable Ocean Alliance and Seabird Ventures are excited to join a coalition of investors backing the future of sustainable aquaculture as part of Ace Aquatec’s recently announced £10 million funding round, led by Stolt Ventures with participation from Aqua-Spark and Scottish Enterprise.

This new capital will help accelerate the development of advanced, data-driven tools that promote ethical farming, enhance fish welfare, and protect marine ecosystems, priorities that align deeply with our mission to advance ocean health through impactful innovation.

In addition, it will also create 15 new jobs in the sustainable blue economy space, from Glasgow to Chile.

Making Aquaculture More

Sustainable & Safer for Marine Life

Headquartered in Dundee, Scotland, Ace Aquatec develops a robust suite of technologies designed to minimize aquaculture's impact on surrounding marine ecosystems, particularly in the areas of predator deterrence, noise pollution, and humane harvesting.

Their solutions address both near-shore aquaculture operations and offshore construction zones:

• Acoustic Startle Response (A-ASR®) devices, available in both mid- and low-frequency formats, protect farmed fish from predators like seals and sea lions without harming the animals or nearby cetaceans. These systems use randomized, scientifically validated sound patterns to safely startle predators while avoiding habituation and hearing damage.
• A-EFENCE®, a humane, non-acoustic surface deterrent system that uses a low-voltage electric field to prevent predators from breaching fish pens—helping eliminate the need for lethal control methods while preserving fish welfare.
• FaunaGuard, designed for offshore infrastructure projects such as wind farm installations, creates temporary exclusion zones to prevent hearing damage in porpoises, seals, and turtles by using species-specific sound cues.
• AI-powered biomass cameras that provide real-time health monitoring and biomass estimation to optimize feed usage and limit waste.
• In-water electric stunners that enable fully humane harvest with minimal stress and environmental impact.
• A digital analytics platform that supports fish-level traceability and compliance with evolving sustainability standards.

Together, these technologies make aquaculture smarter, more ethical, and safer for the marine environments in which it operates—delivering measurable welfare gains for both farmed and wild species.

Ace Aquatec brings together the best of marine conservation and smart aquaculture innovation, operating at the critical nexus of ecosystem protection and farm performance. With tools like FaunaGuard mitigating acoustic harm to wildlife during offshore construction and farm technologies reducing waste and conflict with predators, they are building an integrated platform that defends both biodiversity and operational sustainability.

From deterring seals without harm to improving feed accuracy and harvest yield, Ace’s suite of technologies supports ecosystem-friendly growth of the aquaculture industry, offering a model for how ocean-based industries can embed marine protection into everyday operations.

Ace Aquatec has already deployed solutions across dozens of sites globally, from Scotland and Chile to Japan and Canada. Their rental-first model ensures high gross margins and strong recurring revenue. Clients like Scottish Sea Farms, Regal Springs, and Mowi rely on their technology to meet high welfare and sustainability standards.

Backed by top-tier investors—including Stolt Ventures, Aqua-Spark, and Scottish Enterprise—and supported by a significant qualified commercial pipeline, Ace is not just scaling, but setting a new standard.

Their ambition? To accelerate the world’s adoption of sustainable aquaculture and become the innovation partner of choice for those advancing welfare-first technologies across the blue economy.

What we admire about Ace Aquatec is the clarity and credibility of their impact. Their tech has:

• Protected 128+ marine areas from predator conflict and noise pollution.
• Humanely processed over 481 million fish, improving animal welfare and reducing post-harvest waste.
• Reduced farm-level mortality, increased feed efficiency, and conserved energy and resources.

Whether helping prevent hearing damage in porpoises during wind farm installation or enabling more sustainable feed usage at remote salmon farms, Ace’s technologies offer practical solutions that scale both environmentally and commercially.

Our Vision: Aquaculture That Protects the Ocean

At SOA, we believe aquaculture can be a powerful part of the ocean health solution—but only when it safeguards the wild ecosystems it operates within.

Ace Aquatec proves that fish farming doesn’t have to come at the expense of marine life. With their innovations, aquaculture becomes a cleaner, smarter, and more compassionate way to feed the world.

We’re proud to back Ace Aquatec and welcome them into the Ecopreneur Network as they scale globally, committing to helping them turn smarter aquaculture into systemic ocean restoration.

If you're building or funding the future of sustainable blue foods, let’s connect. Send a message to Alicia Hernández Arriaga at alicia@soalliance.org.

Interested in applying for Ecopreneur Network membership? Learn more and apply here (applications reviewed & accepted on a rolling basis).

— The SOA and Seabird Ventures Team