A Navy plan to fly four bottlenose dolphins to Hawaii from San Diego in March for sea mine training and research drew some criticism but was approved by the state Board of Agriculture on Tuesday by a 5-2 vote.
Although the Navy has transported marine mammals here at least every two years and sometimes every year in the past on short-term permits issued by the board chairman, according to officials, state legal counsel concluded it was "appropriate" for the latest request to go through board review.
The Navy’s marine mammal program, which falls under the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific, said it has about 85 dolphins and 50 sea lions in San Diego.
The dolphins will be used March 10-31 out of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on a training "mobility evolution" measuring the animals’ response and medical condition during the transit and use, the Navy said.
Daily activities will include the search for simulated targets that vary by depth, ocean topography and time of day and evaluating the animals’ performance, said Mark Xitco with the Pacific space and naval warfare program, who answered board questions via speakerphone Tuesday.
Some concern with the Navy program centered on treatment of the animals.
"It’s very abusive," said Marsha Green, president of the Ocean Mammal Institute, who did not testify Tuesday. "First of all, they are flying them on planes. They are putting them in pens that are 20 feet by 20 feet by 8 feet for a 15-foot dolphin. I mean, that’s ridiculous."
The Agriculture Department said it received 120 written comments about the training proposal as of Monday, with most in opposition.
The Navy’s marine mammal program, for its part, compares dolphins with the use of other service animals, such as security dogs.
"But just as the dog’s keen sense of smell makes it ideal for detecting land mines, the U.S. Navy has found that the biological sonar of dolphins, called echolocation, makes them uniquely effective at locating sea mines so they can be avoided or removed," the program said on its website.
Xitco said dolphins are the Navy’s best and sometimes only method of detecting some mine threats.
Cathy Goeggel, president of Animal Rights Hawai‘i, said at Tuesday’s meeting that Hawaii administrative rules allow "limited purposes" for which bottlenose dolphins can be imported, and military training is not one of them.
"Military training is not the same as scientific research," Goeggel said, adding she was asking for a contested-case hearing on the training permit.
The Navy alternately referred to the dolphin use in Hawaii as "scientific research," "military training" and "operations and maintenance."
Deputy Attorney General Haunani Burns said she saw no basis for a contested-case hearing.
A person might be entitled to such a hearing if that individual was deprived of a license or permit. "What is the deprivation of interest of a member of the public who disagrees (with the board)?" she asked.
Board member Maria Gallo voted against the dolphin permit.
"You can go out and take data and record it, but it isn’t really research as I’m used to the term being used," she said.
The Navy said the marine mammal program was at Kaneohe Bay from 1968 to 1993 before being moved to San Diego. Hawaii’s undersea area is different from San Diego’s, and the water is 10 to 20 degrees warmer, providing variation to evaluate the animals, the Navy said.
