UPDATED 9.17am Campaigners say helping the fishing industry become Maui's dolphin-safe would only be a small drop in the ocean of Government spending.

A report WWF has commissioned from BERL has found it would cost the Government somewhere from $26 million to $40 million, to step in and ease the cost to the industry.

The report suggests major changes must be made towards safer fishing methods, to protect the 63 remaining adults.

The cash would cover helping fishers transition to safer methods in the critically endangered dolphin's habitat, on the North Island's west coast.

WWF New Zealand head of campaigns, Peter Hardstaff, said $26 million might sound like a lot of money, until you compare it to other expenses.

"To put it in context, it's about three years worth of ministerial travel expenses - it's about 0.03 per cent - that's one 30th of 1 per cent - of the Government's budget."

Mr Hardstaff said fishing companies Sanford and Moana have already committed to phasing out dolphin-unsafe methods, but others need help.

"It's really important that the government steps in and helps the fishers transition because for some of these guys it's a livelihood issue - they're pretty small operations and they need some assistance."

The Greens are right behind the report - the party's environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage says the recommendations don't go that much further than what her Party had already committed to at the last election.

"Extending the sanctuary, getting rid of set netting and trawling within the sanctuary so that the dolphins have proper protection and providing $20 million to assist fishers' transition to dolphin-safe methods."

She said it's time the government became serious about saving the last 63 dolphins.

"We need to get fishers out of the sanctuaries - and we need to get deep sea oil drilling out."

The Greens are right behind WWF's report that says we're not acting fast enough to save our Maui's dolphin.

Greens environment spokesperson Eugenie Sage said the recommendations are similar to those already made by her party.

The Minister for Primary Industries says the Government has no intention of compensating commercial fishers.

Nathan Guy said the Government can restrict catch limits, fishing areas and make changes under sustainability grounds to protect marine mammals.

But he's confident they already have effective restrictions in place to protect the 63 remaining adult Maui's dolphins.

Mr Guy said the industry knows any further changes would be done without compensation.