Fishing Cat Conservation

We study and facilitate conservation of fishing cats and their coastal as well as inland wetland habitat along the east coast of Andhra Pradesh by assisting the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department and involving local communities through spreading awareness and capacity building.

Fishing cats are discontinuously distributed in Asia with considerable gaps in their populations throughout their range.  They primarily inhabit wetlands, which include rivers, lakes, marshes and mangrove swamps.  Much remains to be learned about their diet, but from what is known, their major diet is freshwater fish, and they may also prey on birds, molluscs, frogs and water snakes. 

Fishing cats have been categorized as a globally Vulnerable species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) since the year 2015.  Much of their endangerment can be attributed to the drastic degradation and pollution of wetland habitats, conversion of wetlands for aquaculture, and persecution by humans.  Aquaculture practices over the last two decades have considerably destroyed most of the fishing cat’s prime habitat throughout its range.