Status survey of fishing cat with special references to their distributionand abundance in wetland habitats in West Bengal

Funded By: West Bengal Biodiversity Board

Project Duration: 2017-2019

Objectives:

1. To document and compile ecological history and map the historical records of species distribution in West Bengal.
2. To prepare the present distribution map of the species in different wetland habitats of the state.
3. To identify the possible habitat requirements of the species and their relative abundance in different wetland habitats of West Bengal.
4. To identify the reasons and areas of human-fishing cat conflicts in West Bengal.
5. To facilitate and promote conservation measures for the species in West Bengal in a participatory manner involving local communities, Govt. Departments, NGOs, etc.

Outcomes: A review of available literature revealed that the presence of fishing cats has mainly been reported from parts of Howrah, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas, East Midnapore, and some protected areas in West Bengal. In the present study, we have documented the presence of fishing cats (with camera-trapped photographic evidence) from wetlands of Kolkata, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, Murshidabad as well as a few new locations of Howrah, Hooghly, South 24 Parganas, and East Midnapore. During the research project, around thirteen thousand local residents of West Bengal were interviewed as a part of the questionnaire surveys. Their local and traditional knowledge was very much useful in finding out many of the newly confirmed locations of fishing cat presence. Twenty-two out of twenty-three districts have been surveyed properly in the last two years following the proposed research protocol and we came up with eighteen confirmed locations of the State Animal. Some places were also very potential and based on the secondary evidence a distribution map of Fishing cat has been prepared with all the confirmed presence locations along with all the probable areas. 

Project location: Wetland habitat of West Bengal