Final Rites for Cod Hatchery

The hatchery was part of the No Catch group of businesses, which went into administration in February this year.

The hatchery closure has been condemned as "a waste" and is seen as a massive strategic mistake the Scottish aquaculture industry will come to pay for at a later date, according to Shetland Marine News.

The collapse of the No Catch venture has resulted in cod farming being virtually abandoned in the UK.

Earlier this month, the decommissioning of the plant was completed when the hatchery's brood stock of 119 mature cod together with around 800,000 one inch long juveniles were killed.

Hatchery manager Dr Lesley McEvoy described events as "dreadful", adding the cull was "just a waste".

Attempts to at least save the broodstock for future cod farming projects in the isles came to nothing.

Shetland Marine News said the hatchery's last batch of fish, 420,000 juveniles, were put into cages in Vidlin Voe earlier last week, ready for export to Villa Cod Farm, in Norway, later this summer.

The Nufish hatchery was opened in 2002 and was bought by No Catch in 2005.

Last week engineers were busy dismantling the equipment at the Nufish hatchery to make it ready for sale.