Inspecting and repairing fishing nets at depth is risky for divers and costly for fish farms, but this iAward winner created advanced remotely operated vehicles to make the job safer – and earned national and international recognition.
Jennifer and Andrew (middle) represent Southern Ocean Subsea at the 2025 Asia Pacific ICT Alliance (APICTA) Awards in Taiwan. With them, Denni Hu (left) and Tim Chen (right), both APICTA Judges.
Based in the harbourside city of Hobart and having run a specialist diving and remotely operated vehicle (ROV) company for 20 years, Jennifer and Andrew Ford bring deep, hands-on experience to subsea operations.
Much of their dive teams’ work involved inspecting, repairing and maintaining fishing nets for aquaculture businesses, alongside oil and gas operations, says Jennifer. “For these businesses, it’s all about safety and efficiency, getting it quickly done to reduce downtime.”
But the work was often hampered by weather and sea conditions, and specialist dive expertise could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars for complex or time-critical jobs.
To overcome these challenges, Jennifer and Andrew began using ROVs to carry out high-risk tasks, often with divers operating them from the boats. While the technology reduced reliance on divers, available ROVs lacked the dexterity required for the complex repairs a diver could perform.
One of their former team members Kelsey Treloar had started a business, Southern Ocean Subsea (SoSub), to advance ROV technology. The trio reunited to take their aquaculture services to a “new level”.
Solving underwater challenges with robotic precision
With Kelsey as R&D Director, Andrew as Managing Director and Jennifer as CEO, SoSub developed APAMA — an advanced and lightweight ROV designed to outperform existing technology. Its capabilities include easier net inspection and pressure cleaning, in-place “stitching” and hole repair, rope cutting, and fish and predator net inspections completed up to 50 per cent faster.
Fittingly, the ROV is named after the Australian Giant Cuttlefish, whose scientific name is Sepia apama, and is known for its agility and dexterity. Jennifer says one diver recently remarked that using the APAMA compared to other ROVs “is like going from using a bulldozer to a bobcat”.
The team has also streamlined vehicle maintenance, says Jennifer. “With sovereign capability to 3D print many spare parts on demand, we can have them printed within hours and the vehicles back up and running the next day.”
After initially working with Australian salmon farms, which account for only 1.5% of the global salmon market, the APAMA is now getting positive attention in international waters. Norway holds 40% of the global salmon market and SoSub has signed a MOU with a Norwegian-based service provider that has access to about 30 individual fish farms.
“Put yourself out there”: Double iAward win, and again at APICTA
Relatively new to the award scene, Jennifer wasn’t thinking too far ahead when SoSub entered the iAwards. “My whole approach was, ‘OK, I’m going over to Adelaide, I’m going to give it 110% and give the best presentation I can.” That attitude paid off, with the team winning both the Business & Industry category and the special Inspiration Award.
Her “give it a go” mindset was shaped by a dramatic health scare earlier in 2025, when she contracted a life-threatening case of meningococcal. Fast action and urgent hospital treatment saved her life.
“I was just standing on stage thinking only a few months ago this wouldn’t have happened,” she says. “I feel so grateful and blessed to be here to be doing what we’re doing with such a great innovative team.”
Jennifer also made the most of networking events before the gala dinner and National Ceremony, meeting innovators, judges, business leaders and government officials. “You just get on their profile… you start to know people on another level.”
Next, they took APAMA to the Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA) in Taiwan — the iAwards being the only pathway for Australian innovators. Jennifer’s research into Taiwan’s thriving aquaculture industry helped tailor their pitch and secure a win in the Industrial: Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Logistics category.
Being part of the iAwards and APICTA helps show how your work “stacks up” against others and galvanises your team, she says. “It validates what we’re building and gives the team confidence to keep pushing forward.”
Note: Western Australian innovators enter the iAwards National competition through the state-based INCITE Awards.
Tasmanian innovators enter through the TasICT Awards