Fishing Cat Conservancy
Dedicated to protecting fishing cats and their globally important mangrove habitat through community-based research and conservation
Our Mission
To empower communities to help protect fishing cats and restore their globally important mangrove habitat
We're a growing, global non-profit organization focused on supporting + creating conservation-based livelihoods such as monitoring fishing cats and protecting/restoring mangrove forests in people's own lands.
© Photo credit: Anjani Kumar
Threats to Fishing Cats
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Habitat loss due to agriculture and aquaculture
Limited research and awareness (local and global)
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Hunting, poaching, and illegal trade
The Fishing Cat
Fishing cats are native to wetlands, rivers, and mangrove forests in South and Southeast Asia. They prey primarily on fish and crustaceans. Like many other rare species, not much is known about fishing cats in the wild.
They are threatened by habitat destruction, poaching, and a lack of awareness throughout much of their range. Mangroves, which are prime habitat for fishing cats, provide local people with nurseries for fish and protect entire communities from storm surges.
However, many mangroves where fishing cats live are quickly being lost to deforestation and aquaculture. We are educating and empowering local communities to study, protect and restore habitat for this vulnerable cat and its globally important mangrove habitat in their backyards.
© Photo credit: Christina Kolbmann
Coastal Mangroves
An estimated 50-80% of the historic coastal mangrove cover in South and Southeast Asia has been lost due to human demands. Protecting the remaining mangrove areas is vital for the human and animal communities they sustain and protect.
Are natural wave breakers that protect both wildlife and humans from soil erosion and natural disasters like tsunamis
Provide vital habitat for wildlife and fish, including many endangered species
Provide for a direct source of food and fuel as a means of livelihood for many local people and tribal communities
Sequester up to five times more carbon than tropical forests and help mitigate negative impacts of climate change.
Mangrove Crabs Project
Our latest and alternative livelihood project to help protect fishing cats and their globally important mangrove habitat in coastal South India. Deforestation and aquaculture threaten mangrove forests and several vulnerable species that inhabit them, primarily fishing cats and smooth-coated otters. We work to conserve these mangroves by providing human communities with alternative livelihoods such as introducing the sustainable harvest of mangrove mud crabs.
