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