EDITORS NOTE: This story was originally published in September 2021.

Earlier this year, two of Norway's richest men -- Gustav Witzoe and Kjell Inge Rokke -- joined forces to launch one of the more audacious aquaculture projects ever conceived.

The announcement that Witzoe's salmon farming group SalMar and Rokke's industrial conglomerate Aker would establish offshore aquaculture company SalMar Aker Ocean took the industry by surprise, with few whispers that the news was coming.

The plan is to produce salmon in large offshore farms, initially in Norway.