BANGOR — Specially trained Atlantic bottlenose dolphins and California sea lions will help guard a Trident submarine base in Washington beginning next year, the Navy announced this week.
Their job will be to stop swimmers or divers from infiltrating Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor.
Marine mammals are already being used to find possible intruders at other Navy bases, including at King’s Bay, Ga., the home of the rest of the nation’s Trident fleet.
The decision is the culmination of a 3 ½ year environmental process to clear the way for what the Navy calls a swimmer interdiction security system.
The Navy looked at several options to protect against possible attack from swimmers, but officials said they couldn’t find a better way of meeting new terrorism-driven security requirements. The marine mammals were its preferred alternative from the beginning. Several animal rights groups have said such use of dolphins and sea lions would pose health dangers to the mammals.
Other ideas explored by the Navy included combat swimmers or using remotely-operated vehicles. Neither system exists, however, and would have had to be developed, and neither could detect intruders. They could only respond after being alerted by an existing detection system.
Dolphins and sea lions can find intruders by themselves and have been doing so for years at other bases, the Navy said.
Several public hearings on the plan were held in the Puget Sound region. The overriding complaint raised was that Hood Canal is too cold for Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Dolphin biologist Toni Frohoff said average water temperatures at the Bangor submarine are considerably cooler than the Caribbean where many of the dolphins are found.
A Navy analysis found that the dolphins’ metabolism would allow them to handle Bangor’s winter water and air temperatures. Although the Navy expects no problems from the cold, the dolphins will stay in temperature-controlled in-water enclosures, according to documents relating to the plan. They’ll only patrol in cold water in two-hour shifts.
The dolphins, accompanied by handlers, will work at night. If they find an intruder, they’ll swim back to the boat and alert the handler, who will place a strobe light on a dolphin’s nose. It will race back and bump the intruder’s back, knocking the light off.
Sea lions can carry in their mouths special cuffs attached to long ropes. If they find a swimmer, they clamp the cuff around the person’s leg to be reeled in.
The dolphins’ sonar is better than any that man has made and they’re best for moving quickly in open water. Sea lions can see and hear better underwater and are better for shallower work around piers.
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