This year at Whalefest, Global Ocean were pleased to make the acquaintence of Dr. Barbara Maas (Head of International Species Protection for NABU International - Foundation for Nature). Dr. Maas outlined the plight of New Zealand's Hector's dolphin and Maui's dolphin, the smallest and rarest marine dolphins on earth. Tragically, the introduction of nylon filament fishing nets in the 1970s has led to a dramatic decrease in populations numbers of Hector's dolphins, from 30,000 to 7,270. Even more atrocious is the 94% loss of our Maui's dolphins populations, with just 55 survivors older than one year left in the world.

NABU International and Global Ocean urge you to take action now before these rare species go extinct. If you would like to find out more, or take part in this vital campaign, please CLICK HERE. It only takes a minute!

A change in protection measures could allow numbers of these marine mammals to rise in just a few decades - and stop .