The military wants to use bottlenose dolphins to protect military interests in the Puget Sound, but the Navy’s decision is being questioned, since bottlenose dolphins “lack the physiology to adapt to the colder water temperatures.” According to NOAA, bottlenose dolphins have a “worldwide distribution ranging from latitudes of 45°N to 45°S.” However, Puget Sound, WA sits around 47-48°N.
While most bottlenose dolphin stocks occur in warmer waters, there is a “California-Oregon-Washington Offshore” stock with an estimated abundance of 323 individuals. However, the military “dolphins, which are based in San Diego, are accustomed to water temperatures averaging 10 degrees higher than those in Puget Sound,” and those dolphins were “captured in the warm waters of the Caribbean that may be 20 to 30 degrees warmer than those off Washington state.”
Bottlenose dolphins occur in two forms, (which may be distinct species)—coastal and offshore—with the former being smaller and preferring shallower waters.
The images at right (Brien Aho/U.S. Navy/Associated Press) and below show the bottlenose dolphin “K-Dog” being trained for mine clearance in the Persian Gulf. The device attached to the dolphin’s pectoral fin is a locator beacon. From the Los Angeles Times, CA:
The Navy’s 78 dolphins, 27 sea lions and a beluga are trained to alert a patrol boat of human overseers when they detect a swimmer or diver in the security zone.
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Average water temperatures at the Bangor submarine base, west of Seattle, range from 44.5 to 57.2 degrees. “It’s just a matter of being humane, or civilized, in acknowledging there’s a reason why bottlenose dolphins, especially the warm-water Atlantic variety, do not exist in the water here. It’s just too darned cold. And they don’t have the physiology to adapt,” Frohoff said.
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Navy officials say the dolphins have been trained successfully in very cold water, including wintertime stints in Alaska, Norway, Connecticut, Denmark and Germany.
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The Humane Society and other opponents also have questioned whether dolphins can be relied on.
“I’ve been working with dolphins for over 20 years, both in captivity and in the wild. And most trainers who don’t have an affiliation will readily admit that dolphins do not have as accurate a response rate to directions and signals as human divers. So I think it isn’t just dangerous to dolphins, it’s dangerous to people,” Frohoff said.
Navy officials said dolphins provided valuable assistance in clearing mines in Iraq, allowing the port of Umm al Qasr to open. But the animals’ greatest asset under actual wartime conditions, during the Vietnam War, was as a deterrent, they said.
“In Cam Ranh Bay, they were getting weekly attacks with swimmers carrying explosives,” Hugueley said. Then dolphins were deployed, “and they didn’t have any attacks,” he said. “And when they took them away, they started getting attacked again.”
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