United States Navy Marine Mammal Program
The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) is a program within the U.S. Navy which studies and trains marine mammals (principally Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions) for military activities, such as ship protection, mine clearance, and equipment recovery. The program is based in San Diego, California, where it trains continuously; animal teams have been deployed to actual conflict situations, such as the Vietnam War and Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The program has been dogged by controversy over its treatment of its animals and (sometimes wild) speculation on the nature of its mission and training; much of this was fuelled by the program's own policy of secrecy, which was abandoned in the early 1990's. There is continuing opposition to the concept of using marine mammals for military purposes, even in essentially non-combatant roles such as mine detection. The Navy cites external oversight, including on-going monitoring, to defend its standard of animal welfare.
History
The program's roots go back to 1960, with the acquisition of a Pacific White-sided Dolphin for hydrodynamic studies with a view to improving torpedo performance [1]. The aim was to determine whether the dolphin has evolved a sophisticated drag-reducing system; but the technology of the day was unable to detect any unusual capabilities on the part of the dolphin. This research has now resumed with the benefit of modern-day technology; among the possible drag-reducing mechanisms being studied are skin compliance, biopolymers, and boundary layer heating.
In 1963, the animals' intelligence, exceptional diving ability, and trainability led to a new research program being set up at Point Mugu, California, where a research facility was created on a sand spit between Mugu Lagoon and the ocean. This program's aim was to study their specially developed senses and capabilities (such as sonar and deep-diving physiology) and also how dolphins and sea lions might be used to perform useful tasks, such as searching for and marking objects in the water. A major accomplishment was the demonstration that trained dolphins and sea lions could be worked untethered in the open sea with great reliability. In 1965, a Navy dolphin named Tuffy participated in the SEALAB II project off La Jolla, California, carrying tools and messages between the surface and the habitat 200 feet (60 m) below.
In 1967, the Point Mugu facility and its personnel were relocated to Point Loma in San Diego, California, and placed under the newly formed Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego, previously known under a variety of other names). Additionally, a laboratory was established in Hawaii at the Marine Corps Air Station on Kāne‘ohe Bay.
In 1993, as the result of the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, the Hawaii lab was closed, and the majority of the animals moved to San Diego. A small group of animals remained, participating in joint research with the University of Hawaii.
The program
The Navy Marine Mammal Program is based in San Diego, California, USA, as part of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego). Animals are trained in San Diego Bay; dolphin handlers can frequently be seen on the bay, where special small boats are used to transport dolphins between their pens and the training areas. Occasionally they will even put on a small show for watching boaters. Other locations are sometimes used for specific research, such as San Clemente Island in the Channel Islands of California, and torpedo test ranges in Seattle and Canada.
The program's stated animal activities include:
- protecting ports and Navy assets from swimmer attack
- locating and assisting in the recovery of expensive exercise and training targets
- locating potentially dangerous sea mines
There are 5 marine mammal teams, each one trained for a specific type of mission. Each human-animal team is known in military jargon by a "mark" number (MK for short); the 5 teams are called "MK 4", "MK 5", "MK 6", "MK 7", and "MK 8". MK 4, MK 7, and MK 8 use dolphins, MK 5 uses sea lions, and MK 6 uses both sea lions and dolphins. These teams can be deployed on 72 hours notice by ship, aircraft, helicopter, and land vehicles to potential regional conflict or staging areas all over the world.
Mine hunting
Three of the marine mammal teams are trained for clearance of enemy sea mines, which are seen as a major hazard to U.S. Navy ships [2]. In operation, a dolphin waits to receive a cue from its handler before it begins to search a specific area using its natural echolocation. The dolphin reports back to its handler, giving one response if a target object is detected and a different response if no target object is detected. If a mine-like target is detected, the handler sends the dolphin to mark the location of the object so it can be avoided by Navy vessels or dealt with by Navy divers.
The MK 4 team uses dolphins for detecting and/or marking the location of sea mines that are tethered off the ocean bottom; the MK 7 dolphins are trained to detect and/or mark the location of mines sitting on the ocean bottom or buried in sediment. The MK 8 unit is a human/dolphin team whose mission is to quickly identify safe corridors for the initial landing of troops ashore.
Mine-clearance dolphins were deployed to the Persian Gulf during Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003. The Navy claims that these dolphins were effective in helping to clear more than 100 antiship mines and underwater booby traps from the port of Umm Qasr [3].
Force protection
The MK 6 team uses dolphins and sea lions as sentries, to protect harbor installations and ships against unauthorized swimmers in the water.
MK 6 was first operationally deployed with dolphins during the Vietnam War from 1971 to 1972 and Bahrain from 1986 to 1987.
Object recovery
The MK 5 team is dedicated to the recovery of test equipment that may be fired from ships or dropped from planes into the ocean. Human divers were originally used, but are restricted to short working times and with limited repeated dive ability. MK 5 uses California Sea Lions to locate and attach recovery hardware to underwater objects such as practice mines.
This team first demonstrated its capabilities when it recovered an ASROC (Anti Submarine Rocket) MK 17 from 180 feet (50 m) of water in November 1970. The team has also trained in the recovery of dummy victims in a simulated airplane crash.
Attack missions
There are widespread theories that Navy dolphins are trained in attack missions of various kinds; such as direct attacks against swimmers in the water, or attaching limpet mines to enemy ships in harbour. This is also a popular theme in fiction.
The Navy's position is that it has never trained its marine mammals for any kind of attack missions against people or ships [4]. Since dolphins cannot discern the difference between enemy and friendly vessels, or enemy and friendly divers and swimmers, this would be a haphazard means of warfare; instead, the animals are trained to detect all mines or swimmers in an area of interest or concern, and report back to their handlers who then decide upon an appropriate response.
Animals
The Navy identifies the following animal species as having been used or studied by the program at various times:
| Cetaceans: | Pinnipeds: | Other: |
Today, Bottlenose Dolphins and California Sea Lions are the main animals used, and are kept at the program's base in San Diego. Dolphins have exceptional biological sonar, which is unmatched by artificial sonars in detecting objects in the water column and on the sea floor; sea lions lack this, but have very sensitive underwater directional hearing and exceptional vision in low light conditions. Both of these species are trainable, and capable of repetitive deep diving.
In the late 1990's as many as 140 marine mammals were kept by the program [1].
Animal welfare
There have been recurring controversies over the Navy's alleged mistreatment of animals in the program. Today, however, the Navy's position is that positive reinforcement techniques exclusively are used in training of their animals, and that they are looked after in accordance with accepted standards. The NMMP claims strict compliance with all statutory requirements, United States Department of Defense requirements, and federal laws regarding the proper care of the animals, including the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Animal Welfare Act.
In addition, the program is listed as an accredited institution by the Association for the Accreditation of Animal Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), whose voluntary accreditation program requires research programs to demonstrate that they meet standards of animal care beyond those required by law [5]. It is also listed by the The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums as a member; this is a nonprofit non-regulatory organization that promotes high standards of animal care and use [6].
Some groups continue to oppose the Navy's use of marine mammals, even on the basis of the Navy's declared policy, citing inevitable stresses in such a training program, and saying that marine mammals should not be sent into hazardous situations.
There is also continuing controversy over the use of anti-foraging devices — muzzles which are used to prevent the dolphins from foraging for food while working. While the Navy states that this is to prevent them ingesting something harmful, opponents believe that this reinforces the handlers' control over the dolphins based on food rewards [7].
In the media
The NMMP has had a lot of sensational coverage in the media, probably due at least in part to the unusual nature of the program, and the controversial concept of using intelligent marine mammals for military purposes. The NMMP was classified until the early 1990's, which also contributed to speculation about its true nature and even its proper title, with some referring to it as the Cetacean Intelligence Mission.
At times, stories have surfaced in the media claiming that military dolphins trained for attack missions, or even equipped with weaponry, have escaped and pose a danger to the public; however, the U.S. Navy has stated that its dolphins have never been trained for any kind of attack mission against ships or people.
As regards the theory that Navy dolphins are armed with limpet mines to attack enemy ships, it is worth noting that there are more comprehensive and precise weapons in the U.S. Navy's arsenal which can be used to destroy enemy ships in harbour, such as the Mark 48 torpedo, the Mark 67 submarine-launched mobile mine, or the Mark 60 Captor mine. An attack submarine may be able to deliver as many as 40 Mark 67 mines in one mission, each mine carrying a 230kg warhead, at a distance up 5 to 7 miles (8 to 10 km).
During Hurricane Katrina, there were media reports that some of the Navy's dolphins escaped when their containment area in Lake Pontchartrain was breached, posing a threat to swimmers nearby [8]. These dolphins were supposedly equipped with poison dart guns. The Navy reported, however, that all its dolphins were accounted for, and further that its only dolphin training centre is in San Diego, nowhere near the area affected by Katrina. Some dolphins did, apparently, escape from the Marine Life Oceanarium in Gulfport, Miss., and were subsequently recovered [9] [10].
The concept of military dolphins has also been explored in fiction, notably in the film The Day of the Dolphin (Mike Nichols, 1973). The William Gibson short story Johnny Mnemonic and its film adapation also featured a cyborg dolphin Navy veteran named "Jones" with a talent for decryption and a heroin addiction.
See also
External links
- NMMP Home Page — the program's official web site
- Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center San Diego (SSC San Diego) — home page of the Navy research unit which includes the NMMP
- The Dolphins of War — info on military uses of dolphins
- Stop Use of Dolphins in Mine-Hunting Operations — a petition against NMMP
References
- ^ A Brief History of the Navy's Marine Mammal Program from the foreword to the Annotated Bibliography of Publications from the NMMP
- ^ U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Mine Hunting Systems from the NMMP's home page
- ^ Smithsonian Magazine: Uncle Sam's Dolphins — an article about the NMMP's mine-clearance work in Iraq
- ^ U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program Frequently Asked Questions from the NMMP's home page
- ^ Association for the Accreditation of Animal Laboratory Animal Care
- ^ The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums
- ^ European Cetacean Bycatch Campaign — a page on military dolphin use
- ^ Armed and dangerous — Flipper the firing dolphin let loose by Katrina — story published in the Observer, September 25, 2005, about armed dolphins allegedly let loose by Hurricane Katrina
- ^ Dispelling a myth of dangerous Navy dolphins — MSNBC story in response to the Katrina story in the Observer
- ^ Snopes: Killer Dolphins — article on the Katrina story from the Urban Legends Reference page