Fishing Cat

Question:Fishing Cat has been specified in which category of IUCN Red List?
(a) Critically Endangered
(b) Endangered
(c) Vulnerable
(d) Near Threatened
Answer: (b)
Related facts:

  • The Odisha forest department has started a two-year conservation project for fishing cats in Bhitarkanika National Park in Kendrapara district.
  • The species is listed as ‘endangered’ on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List. This means it faces a high threat of extinction in the wild.
  • The fishing cat, however, is not a well-known species and does not enjoy the same status as crocodiles do. One purpose of conservation measures was to create awareness among people for the species.
  • The project will be funded by the forest department of Odisha.
  • In 2019, during a mammal census in Bhitarkanika, only 20 fishing cats were spotted, according to Dash.
  • This was, however, not indicative of the exact number of the species, as the census was conducted during the day.

Status under international and national laws:

  • The United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) lists the fishing cat on Appendix II in Article IV of CITES.
  • The species is also classified under the first schedule of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.

Food storage:

  • Fishing cats hunt fish and crustaceans for food from the park’s water bodies.They dive in to catch prey with their hooked claws.
  • They can also hunt livestock and poultry in villages near forests and have also known to encroach human habitations.

Threats:

  • A major threat for fishing cats is the destruction of wetlands, their preferred habitat.
  • The prawn mafia in the area have reportedly destroyed aquatic ecologies in Satabhaya, Bagapatia and other water bodies within the park in the past by converting wetlands and mangrove forests into prawn farms.

Reptile Census:

  • Similar conservation measures were recently completed for the park’s salt-water crocodiles.
  • The rivers and creeks of Bhitarkanika — the second-largest mangrove forest in the country after the Sundarbans in West Bengal — are home to 1,757 salt-water crocodiles, according to the January 2020 reptile census.
  • The mangrove forests of the national park are also inhabited by spotted deer, wild boar, water monitors and several other animals.

By-Amar Mani Upadhyay

Links:
https://www.downtoearth.org.in/news/wildlife-biodiversity/odisha-starts-project-to-conserve-bhitarkanika-fishing-cats-71928#:~:text=The%20Odisha%20forest%20department%20has,of%20extinction%20in%20the%20wild.