Warning to anglers on crayfish disease

Kilcullen Trout & Salmon Anglers have issued an urgent warning that a disease has hit the white-clawed crayfish between Clonmel and Carrick-on-Suir, wiping out their population in this area of river.

This disease can be carried on waders landing nets etc for more than 24 hours. It is imperative that all anglers disinfect their fishing gear if they have fished in this area, otherwise they run the risk of spreading the disease.

The knock-on effects could be huge as the crayfish is the stable diet of the otter and other riverside animals.

The white-clawed crayfish is an endangered European freshwater crayfish, and reaches its northerly limit in Great Britain and Ireland, where it also has its greatest population density. Austropotamobius pallipes is the only species of crayfish found in Ireland.

Picture by David Gerke via Wikipedia - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0