Bivalve shellfish have the capacity to accumulate norovirus (NoV) from waters contaminated with human sewage. Consequently, shellfish represent a major vector for NoV entry into the human food chain, leading to gastrointestinal illness. Identification of areas suitable for the safe cultivation of shellfish requires an understanding of NoV behaviour upon discharge of sewage into coastal waters. This study exploited the potential of Mytilus edulis to accumulate NoV and employed the proposed international standard method for quantification of NoV within mussel digestive tissues. To evaluate the spatial and temporal spread of NoV from an offshore sewage discharge pipe, cages of mussels were suspended from moorings (n=13) deployed in a 1km grid array around the outfall. Caged mussels were retrieved after 30 days and NoV (GI and GII), coliforms and E. coli enumerated. The experimentally derived levels of NoV GI and GII in mussels were similar, with NoV spread from the outfall showing a distinct plume which matched very closely to a tidally-driven effluent dispersal model. A contrasting spatial pattern was observed for coliforms. These data demonstrate that coliform / E. coli concentrations do not accurately reflect viral dispersal in marine waters and contamination of shellfish by sewage-derived viral pathogens. Introduction Contamination of bivalve shellfish with norovirus (NoV) from human faecal sources represents a well-established human health risk (Lees 2000). Bacteria including coliforms and enterococci have been used to estimate the level of faecal contamination of water and / or shellfish and may be referred to collectively as Faecal Indicator Bacteria (FIB). In Europe, Escherichia coli (E. coli), a coliform species commonly found in the lower intestine of warm-blooded organisms, is adopted as the traditional indicator of faecal (sewage) contamination in shellfish and used for risk assessment and management (Anon 2004). However, studies have indicated that E. coli provides a poor indicator of the risk of NoV contamination. Reasons for this poor correlation include the different environmental persistence of viruses and bacteria in marine water and differences in their seasonal discharge pattern (Fong and Lipp 2005). Direct recovery and concentration of viral pathogens from coastal waters is problematic, often requiring large sample volumes and providing only a time-specific measure of contamination. However, bivalve shellfish have been shown to efficiently accumulate viruses (Asahina et al. 2009; De Donno et al. 2012; Nenonen et al. 2008) and sensitive quantitative methods which detect NoV genomes in molluscan shellfish using molecular techniques (PCR) now exist (Lees and CEN WG6 T AG4 2010; Anon 2013).