Mating season for salmon -- salmon companies, that is.

Salmon swim upstream, driven by the urge to mate and spawn. It's the same with salmon producers. A three-way merger among Norwegian fishing groups is aimed at creating the second largest salmon farming operation in the world -- behind Dutch Nutreco of Holland.

Here's how it's going to work. Cermaq, which is 80% controlled by the Norwegian government, will own 60% of the new company. Fjord Seafood will pick up the remaining 40%. And Domstein, which has a 26% stake in Fjord, will become the largest private shareholder, receiving NOK 175 million ($20 million -- in additional Flord shares as well as NOK 200 million ($22.8 million) in cash. Fjord will also spawn new shares worth up to NOK 1 billion.

The companies predicted in a joint statement that the new enterprise would overtake PanFish to become the second largest farmed salmon producer in the world: "The new firm will have a 12% share of the global salmon farming market and a 40% share of the salmon feed market," they claimed.