A great BBC Future article on fishing cat conservation and its challenges in India : The fight to save India's most elusive cat
A friend of mine (native of India who now lives in Tucson, USA where he got is PhD) founded Fishing Cat Conservancy FishCat.org | Home. They do great work trying to save the mangroves and provide alternative livelihoods to prevent their destruction.
Your friend is doing great work indeed and as with many species I think that its conservation will come from recognition by communities of these animals being ambassadors of these ecosystems and the value of these ecosystems as safeguards of human survival and wellbeing too. For example, as with the fishing cat being an ambassador species of the mangroves which are essential to prevent flooding and the adverse impacts of climate change in South and South East-Asia so any number of primates here in Brazil may also be ambassador species of the Atlantic rainforest which is essential for water security and to prevent landslides and flooding. It is a brilliant concept and strategy of conservation to connect species conservation with wider ecosystem conservation and ecosystem services.