HEAL Expands its Conservation Work to Chilika in Odisha

10 June 2024

HEAL is set to expand its conservation work in Eastern India. We have partnered with The Habitats Trust to conserve the Fishing Cat and its threatened marshland habitat in Chilika – India’s first Ramsar site, located in Odisha.

This initiative is in collaboration with The Fishing Cat Project, led by HEAL’s Joint Secretary & Director of the Conservation & Ecology Program, Tiasa Adhya.

Chilika is Asia’s largest brackish water lagoon, home to a significant population of fishing cats, Irrawaddy dolphins, otters, wetland birds, and nearly 2,00,000 fisherfolk.

The Fishing Cat Project Team in the marshlands of the Chilika lagoon

As part of this project, we aim to:

– Monitor Fishing Cats

– Build local capacity for scientific monitoring and conservation surveillance of the Fishing Cat, its ecological community and wetland habitat

– Document and advocate for mitigation of threats

– Integrate local livelihoods with wetland preservation

– Create local stewards among student and village children community

– Develop a Fishing Cat Conservation Action Plan in Chilika

TFCP volunteer showing camera trap images of wildlife recorded at Chilika
The camera trap record of a Fishing Cat with its fish prey

Together, these efforts will ensure the sustainability of a vibrant socio-ecological system that supports wetland biodiversity, fishing cats, and the fisherfolk of Chilika!