Halifax-based MARIN X, which sells sensor technology for aquaculture operators, has won the Innovation Award at global bluetech conference Aqua Nor, held in Trondheim, Norway.

The brainchild of entrepreneurs Sheamus MacDonald and Aleksandr Stabenow, MARIN X is an evolution of the 2017-founded Sedna Technologies and has offices in both Nova Scotia and fish farming centre Norway. The company’s Norwegian collaborator is Trond Severinsen, the chief commercial officer at Ovum, which makes high-tech enclosures for aquaculture operations.

Aqua Nor, meanwhile, is held every August and represents one of the larger ocean technologies conferences internationally.

“We feel quite grateful and humbled, we’ve worked very hard to get to this point,” said the MARIN X team. “Working with some of the largest farmers in the industry and spending a lot of our time to build the product to where it is gotten today.”

The Sensor Globe, which doubles as MARIN X's public-facing brand name, is a grapefruit-sized orb with adjustable buoyancy. By placing the device in a tank with fish or shellfish, seafood producers can monitor the health of the marine environment. As well as such metrics as temperature, pH and cleanliness of the water, it can also tell if tanks are jarred too much during shipment.