176 fishing cats found during first population survey in Odisha’s Chilika lake

Bhubaneswar: As many as 176 fishing cats were found in the Chilka lake, during the world’s first population estimation of the fishing cat conducted outside the protected area network.

The Chilika Development Authority (CDA) in collaboration with The Fishing Cat Project (TFCP) recently concluded the first Fishing Cat population estimation in Chilika.

The total abundance of fishing cats in Chilika was found to be 176 with an estimated range of 131-237 individuals. This is the world’s first population estimation of the fishing cat conducted outside the protected area network.

The estimation was conducted in two phases. Phase-I was conducted in 2021 in the 115 sq km marshland present in the north and north-eastern section of Chilika and its surrounding areas.

Phase II was conducted in 2022 in the Parikud side along the coastal islands of Chilika.

In the phases combined, a total of 150 camera traps were deployed with each staying in the field for 30 days. Thereafter, the Spatially Explicit Capture Recapture (SECR) method was used to analyse the data.

“It was truly participatory in spirit since local fishermen and villagers of Chilika were the primary participants in this exercise, '' said CDA Chief Executive Officer Sunshant Nanda.

Without their support, the world’s first such population estimation outside protected areas on this globally threatened cat would not have been possible, he said.

Nanda said 10 graduate and post-graduate students also volunteered during the exercise. Chilika Wildlife Division staff actively facilitated and participated in the population estimation.

Such a participatory effort involving multiple stakeholders for studying this elusive and threatened species sets a wonderful precedent,” says Partha Dey, co- founder, TFCP.

Fishing cats are globally threatened. cats that occur in wetlands like marshlands, mangroves and flooded forests in major South and South east Asian river basins starting from Indus in Pakistan till Mekong in Vietnam and in the island nations of Sri Lanka and Java.

They are found in 10 Asian countries but have remained undetected in Vietnam and Java for the last decade or so.'

“Wetlands in Asia are being lost at alarmingly rapid rates and proper data on their current status or even baseline data in many countries are missing. TFCP Co-founder Tiasa Adhya said the status of many wetland species remains understudied and highly threatened. Tracking specialist species such as the fishing cat gives us an indication of what might be happening to these ecosystems, which are safeguards against climate change and droughts,” the co-founder, TFCP said.

Earlier this year, CDA had declared its intent to adopt a 5-year action plan for Fishing Cat conservation in Chilika.

''In collaboration with TFCP, the CDA will soon share a Fishing Cat Action Plan that is socio-ecological,'' CDA Chief Executive Officer said.

“We have already begun a year-long patrolling and monitoring program on the cat and its sympatric species. Along with upscaling it, we will promote sustainable and traditionally harvested wetland products to prevent wetland conversion, establish a rescue and rehabilitation centre, promote small-scale experiential and educative wetland tourism, adopt habitat restoration programmes as well as education programmes,” Nanda said. (UNI)