About

Marport designs and manufactures catch control and net monitoring sensors, echo sounders, current profilers and sonar for the world’s fishing fleet. We also provide development services to the world’s top companies who count on our expertise. Our technology solutions improve operational efficiency, reduce waste and increase catch quality.

History

Marport was founded in Iceland in 1996 to develop acoustic monitoring systems for the deep sea commercial fishing fleet. The company’s commercial activities were led by founder Oskar Axelsson from his office in Reykjavik. Technical activities including acoustic system engineering and sensor production were out-sourced to Merle Stout, owner of Stout Marine Inc., located in Everett, Washington. In addition to catch control sensors, Stout Marine was an early innovator in trawl mounted sonar equipment and other advanced technologies for commercial fishing.

In 2001, Merle Stout passed away after a courageous battle with cancer. To ensure business continuity, Marport Iceland purchased Stout Marine from the estate and renamed the company Marport Stout Inc. Shortly after the purchase, Marport Stout relocated to its present facilities in Snohomish, Washington – where it still manufactures a wide variety of Marport’s subsea sensor products

In 2005, the engineering teams lead by Didier Caute delivered a proof-of-concept prototype that demonstrated the technical and commercial advantages of Software Defined Sonar. After reviewing the market potential for this technology, it was decided to expand the company further.

In October of 2013 Marport Deep Sea Technology was acquired by Airmar Technology. Airmar began collaborating with Marport approximately eight years ago and has a history of working together to develop products that have been successfully commercialized. Airmar and Marport will continue to jointly develop new products in the same manner, but will focus heavily on bringing new products to market quickly, improving lead times for existing products, and improving distribution channels.