The National Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht and Marine Institute have confirmed an outbreak of crayfish plague in the river Nore in Kilkenny City. It is the ninth Irish river to have tested positive for the disease since 2015. The implications of this disease is extremely concerning as it puts the native White-clawed Crayfish at risk of being eliminated.

The Crayfish Plague disease organism (a water-mould Aphanomyces astaci) is microscopic, invisible to the naked eye and is only viable in water. It is completely harmless to people, pets, livestock and all other freshwater organisms.

Strict biosecurity measures must be observed to prevent the spread of this disease. The highest level of risk is moving equipment that has been used in an affected waterway to an unaffected catchment. The presumption should be made that any equipment (boats, kayaks, wetsuits, wet fishing gear etc.) which becomes wet and has been used in an affected catchment will be contaminated and there is a potential for spreading the disease to new sites.

The single most effective action for all water users is to use the Check, Clean, Dry protocol before and after visiting a river or lake.
- Check, Clean and allow all equipment to thoroughly DRY-out then dry for further 48 hours.
- If drying out equipment is not feasible, equipment should be either:
Power steam washed at a suitably high temperature (at least above 65 degrees)- use of mobile steam power washers or use of nearby power washers at a Service Station as an alternative.
Disinfect everything using an approved disinfectant such as Milton (follow product label), Virkon Aquatic (3mg/L), Proxitane (30mg/L) or an iodine-based product for 15 minutes. Items difficult to soak can be sprayed or wiped down with disinfectant.
- Engine coolant water or residual water in boats/kayaks should be drained and where possible flushed out with disinfectant.

For more detailed information on the outbreak and advice on biosecurity, please refer to the National Biodiversity Data Centre (NBDC) invasive species web site https://invasives.ie/species-alerts/crayfish-plague-disease/.