Administrators paid tribute to a pioneering Shet- land cod-farming venture that hit the buffers recently, but said that consumers were just not prepared to pay enough for the fish to make the trade viable.

Announcing the sale of the trading assets and sea-farming sites of No Catch to Norwegian salmon farmers, the accounting experts said the attempt to turn consumers on to organic cod enjoyed by Hollywood stars like Demi Moore had been been ahead of its time.

"The shareholders and directors of No Catch group embarked on a very ambitious business plan, not only endeavouring to commercially farm cod on a scale previously unseen in the British Isles, they chose to produce organic cod," said Daniel Smith and Robert Craven of Grant Thornton.

The comments acknowledge the visionary quality of the venture, which won £25m backing from financiers.

However, the two recovery experts said that management, led by former diving school boss Karol Rzepkowski, had fallen victim to brutal commercial realities. These might give any imitators pause for thought.

Going organic effectively increased feed costs by around 20%. It also meant a reduction in the density of fish No Catch could keep in the areas for which it had licences and restrictions on the availability of vaccines.

"No Catch's production costs were more than double current market prices for wild cod. The consumer is not prepared to pay such a large premium," noted Smith and Craven.

By insisting on using the No Catch brand and refusing to supply retailers with own-label products, the company denied itself useful volumes.

When No Catch collapsed into administration in February, some blamed management and shareholders, who bought out the former Johnson Seafarms in 2005, for underestimating the amount of start-up funding required.

It takes three years to grow cod to maturity.

Grant Thornton said the company's physical trading assets and sea-farming sites had been sold to Scottish Sea Farms and Hjatland Sea Farms.

The Norwegian-owned companies are believed to have invested £7m in a joint venture to acquire No Catch's 27 licensed areas for salmon farming.

The administrators will occupy some sites under licence while seeking a buyer for the cod stocks, which could weigh a total of 3400 tonnes at maturity.

They are seeking buyers for a hatchery and fish-grading and processing plants operated by No Catch.

Of the 130 staff employed by No Catch, 25 were made redundant when the administrators were appointed. A further 35 left after the appointment, and 60 remain in post.