Explanation:

Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance :

• Recently, the Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance started a worldwide campaign to raise awareness for conservation of fishing cats.
• The Fishing Cat Conservation Alliance is a team of conservationists, researchers and enthusiasts working to achieve functioning fl oodplains and coastal ecosystems that ensure survival of the fi shing cat.
• Unlike most felines, fishing cats love water and are known for their expert hunting skills in aquatic habitats.
• Fishing cats have a patchy distribution along the Eastern Ghats. They abound in estuarine fl oodplains, tidal mangrove forests and also inland freshwater habitats. Apart from Sundarbans in West Bengal and Bangladesh, fi shing cats inhabit the Chilika lagoon and surrounding wetlands in Odisha, Coringa and Krishna mangroves in Andhra Pradesh.
• The conservation threats to fishing cats in the Eastern Ghats are mainly habitat loss [wetland degradation and conversion for aquaculture and other commercial projects], sand mining along river banks, agricultural intensi fi cation resulting in loss of riverine buffer and conflict with humans in certain areas resulting in targeted hunting and retaliatory killings.
• The highly elusive fi shing cat, a lesserknown feline species, is facing several threats due to its depleting habitat. Listed as ‘vulnerable’ on International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List, the species has a high probability of becoming endangered unless circumstances threatening its survival and reproduction improve.