Zebra Mussels located on Lough Mask

Fishermen urged to take precautions after zebra mussels found on Lough Mask


Anton McNulty

FISHERMEN around Lough Mask have been urged to sterilise their boats and take other precautions after the Western Regional Fisheries Board confirmed the presence of zebra mussels on the lake.
Lough Mask had been one of the last trout lakes free from zebra mussels in Ireland, but the conferral of their arrival has led to increased precautions for fishermen using the 22,000 acre lake, which hosts the prestigious World Cup Trout Fly Angling competition every summer.
The board has now urged appropriate measures by anglers – such as the sterilising of boats before they are transferred from Lough Mask to other waterways such as Lough Carra, which are free of zebra mussels.
Washing facilities for the cleaning of boats prior to their removal from Lough Mask have been installed at Cushlough Pier.
Kevin Crowley of the fisheries board said that infestation affects the ecology of a water body as well as the food chain with long-term implications for fish stocks. Lough Mask is the source of drinking water for Castlebar and large parts of south Mayo, but assurances have been given that water quality won’t be affected by the mussels. However, that the out-take pipe from the lake may become encrusted with mussels, leading to higher maintenance costs for Mayo County Council.
Zebra mussels, which are native to rivers entering the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, are thumbnail-sized shellfish that consume the plankton on which small fish depend. As well as causing ecological damage, they create problems for boat owners and can clog water pipes.
They were first recorded in Ireland in 1993, when it is believed they arrived on boats from England or the Netherlands.
The non-native mussels  quickly spread throughout the Shannon system and were discovered some years ago in Lough Gill and Lough Arrow in Co Sligo before being detected more recently in Lough Conn and Ross Lake, a Connemara lake which feeds into Lough Corrib.