Fishermen, cats and biodiversity

A few fishermen and their pet cats on a trip to an island. Hardly a life-threatening situation? Don't be deceived. They unwittingly managed to almost destroy an entire ecosystem. On finding a small island ideal for fishing, fishermen from Balochistan decided to bring their cats along to their place of discovery in order to rid it of its resident vermin. What they didn't realise was that by doing this, they would trigger a change of events that would lead to devastating changes in the island's habitat.
Located 25 km southeast off the Balochistan coast, Astola is the largest offshore island in the Arabian Sea with an extremely high rate of endemism. A simple unit isolated from the mainland, the island is characterised by a mixture of rocky and sandy habitats. For a while a mystery destination, Astola housed a unique and pristine ecosystem, until the all too familiar damaging footprint along with this pet's paws fell upon it. WWF-P plans to initiate an awareness raising programme in Astola Island as a first step towards a community-based conservation programme to reverse the degradation of the Island's unique biodiversity.