Alida site in Volda, Norway, where Ode's first cod production cycle in submersible pens was developed.
Photo: Ode.
In May 2025, Ode announced the launch of the world's first commercial deep-sea cod farming operation, and in December, deep-sea farmed cod hit the market for the first time, marking a new milestone for the company and cod aquaculture. Now, based on that experience, the Norwegian cod producer is investing in ten new deep-farming units of AKVA group's Nautilus system.
As Ode explained in the statement announcing the increase in its investment in submersible cages, deep farming means that farmed cod remain deeper in the water column, where temperature and light conditions are more stable throughout the year, and where the pathogen environment is different and likely better aligned with the natural biology of cod. This, it remarked, provides improved biological conditions and greater predictability in production.
According to the company, the production experience at the Alida site—where the first cycle was developed, located in Volda municipality, Norway—showed faster growth, improved control of maturation, and a more stable production environment.
These experiences now form the basis for further scaling with the investment in the announced ten new submersible cages from AKVA group, which will be put into operation at the company's Vorpeneset and Svartekari sites during the spring.
As mentioned, the ten units to be installed correspond to AKVA group's Nautilus system, which, as both companies explained when announcing their collaboration in May last year, are cages specifically adapted for operations at greater depths than standard solutions so they can benefit from favorable currents in the different cod farming sites.
"The positive results from Alida have confirmed most of our hypotheses about the benefits of deep farming for cod. So far, this is only one production cycle, and we must continue to develop in order to optimize and test the effects at a larger scale," said Ode CEO Ola Kvalheim.
Nautilus is AKVA group's submersible pen designed for deep-water operations, aiming to improve fish welfare and production conditions.
Photo: AKVA group.
"When we see how the fish respond to more stable conditions in deeper water layers, it is natural to take this forward on a larger scale," Kvalheim continued, commenting on the company's new investment in submersible cages.
Arnstein Hosaas, Chief Innovation Officer at AKVA group, also commented on Ode's investment. "When we started deep farming for salmon, the main motivation was to avoid lice infestation, and we observed that the fish thrived. At depth, there is less noise, fewer environmental changes, and overall a more stable environment. Through the pioneering work with Ode, we have now seen that cod also thrive and grow well at depth," he explained.
"I'm looking forward to continuing with deep farming for cod, and I believe there is even more growth potential to be realized through further optimization of both operations and equipment," AKVA group Chief Innovation Officer added.
As said above, the result of that first production cycle in Alida, which now serves as a model and learning tool for the refinement of the technology, marked a new milestone for the company and cod aquaculture when, just before Christmas, the world's first cod produced in a submerged cage was packaged and sold to customers in Europe, the United States and Asia.
Maintaining and expanding that predictability is the goal of Ode and its CEO, who always thinks long-term. "Deep farming at the right sites gives us a production environment that is more stable than what we have previously had access to. This puts us in a better position to plan, manage, and further develop our efforts to scale up cod farming," Kvalheim concluded.
