1Today we're pleased to have on the show Alice Bussell from the Dolphin Conservation Trust.
2Tell us about the Trust, Alice.
3Well, obviously its purpose is to protect dolphins in seas all around the world.
4It tries to raise people's awareness of the problems these marine creatures are suffering
5because of pollution and other threats.
6It started ten years ago and it's one of the fastest growing animal charities in the country -
7although it's still fairly small compared with the big players in animal protection.
8We are particularly proud of the work we do in education -
9last year we visited a huge number of schools in different parts of the country,
10going round to talk to children and young people aged from five to eighteen.
11In fact, about thirty-five per cent of our members are children.
12The charity uses its money to support campaigns -
13for example, for changes in fishing policy and so forth.
14It hopes soon to be able to employ its first full-time biologist - with dolphin expertise - to monitor populations.
15Of course, many people give their services on a voluntary basis
16and we now have volunteers working in observation, office work and other things.
17I should also tell you about the award we won from the Charity Commission last year - for our work in education.
18Although it's not meant an enormous amount of money for us,
19it has made our activities even more widely publicised and understood.
20In the long term it may not bring in extra members
21but we're hoping it'll have this effect.
22Is it possible to see dolphins in UK waters?
23Yes. In several locations.
24And we have a big project in the east part of Scotland.
25This has long been a haven for dolphins because it has very little shipping.
26However, that may be about to change soon
27because oil companies want to increase exploration there.
28We're campaigning against this
29because, although there'll be little pollution from oil,
30exploration creates a lot of underwater noise.
31It means the dolphins can't rest and socialise.
32This is how I became interested in dolphin conservation in the first place.
33I had never seen one and I hadn't been particularly interested in them at school.
34Then I came across this story about a family of dolphins who had to leave their home in the Moray Firth
35because of the oil companies and about a child who campaigned to save them.
36I couldn't put the book down - I was hooked.
37I'm sure our listeners will want to find out what they can do to help.
38You mentioned the 'Adopt a Dolphin' scheme.
39Can you tell us about that?
40Of course!
41People can choose one of our dolphins to sponsor.
42They receive a picture of it and news updates.
43I'd like to tell you about four which are currently being adopted by our members:
44Moondancer, Echo, Kiwi and Samson.
45Unfortunately, Echo is being rather elusive this year and hasn't yet been sighted by our observers
46but we remain optimistic that he'll be out there soon.
47All the others have been out in force -
48Samson and Moondancer are often photographed together
49but it is Kiwi who's our real 'character' as she seems to love coming up close for the cameras
50and we've captured her on film hundreds of times.
51They all have their own personalities -
52Moondancer is very elegant and curves out and into the water very smoothly,
53whereas Samson has a lot of energy -
54he's always leaping out of the water with great vigour.
55You'd probably expect him to be the youngest -
56he's not quite - that's Kiwi -
57but Samson's the latest of our dolphins to be chosen for the scheme.
58Kiwi makes a lot of noise so we can often pick her out straightaway.
59Echo and Moondancer are noisy too,
60but Moondancer's easy to find because she has a particularly large fin on her back,
61which makes her easy to identify.
62So, yes, they're all very different...
63Well, they sound a fascinating group...