The Miami Herald May 27, 2003
They're in the Navy now: Six sea lions get drafted
Florida creatures go to depths humans can't
By Phil Long
ORLANDO - The Navy, known for its famous SEALS, is recruiting six real sea lions from a pod at Sea World of Orlando.
Unlike humans, they swim 25 miles an hour in short bursts, dive to 1,000 feet on a single gulp of air and can be trained to sneak up on a terrorist diver and slap a metal clamp on his leg.
All for a few pounds of fish.
The Orlando Six will replace a half dozen older California sea lions set for retirement from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego.
Sea lions are part of the Navy's Shallow Water Intruder Protection System. ''They have extremely sensitive underwater directional hearing as well as low light level vision,'' said Ed Budzyna, deputy public affairs officer for the center.
They perform well even in at night or in murky water, he added.
Sea lions slip can below the surface, locate invading divers, then ''mark'' them by attaching a device like a handcuff on the swimmer's leg, Budzyna said.
When the sea lion swims back to the launch boat, Navy human divers will have a locator for the invader -- or perhaps even a line to his leg.
TRAINING PERIOD
The animals will train for two years or more before they become adept at their new tasks. Budzyna said the long-term goal is for the Navy to learn how sea lions hear and see so well -- and duplicate it with technology.
The Navy has used dolphins since the Vietnam War to watch for underwater aggressors. They were used to guard the Third Fleet's flagship that commanded vessels escorting Kuwaiti oil tankers. And they were deployed to protect the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf and searched for mines in the harbor of Umm Qsar during Gulf War II.
Back in 1996, just after the Centennial Park bombing in Atlanta during the Summer Olympics, the Navy used dolphins to help the Secret Service patrol water off the Republican National Convention site in San Diego.
Spokesman Budzyna noted that sea lions are already used to recover nonexplosive training mines by diving deep and attaching a ''grabber'' onto a hook on the mine.
Port protection is another looming issue; particularly for Florida. In 2001, the last year for which complete statistics are available from the International Council of Cruise Lines, 4.1 million of the 5.9 million people who boarded cruise ships in the United States did so in Florida.
ANIMAL RIGHTS
The three biggest ports are Miami, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral. Florida also has major freight ports including Tampa, Miami, Port Everglades, Port Canaveral and Jacksonville. Animal rights advocates question the program, denouncing it as bad for the sea lions and bad for the military to depend on the animals in life-and-death situations. Some criticize Sea World for providing the animals to the Navy.
'WEIRD' CONCEPT
Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society of the United States, said she is all for defense, but not for using sea lions this way.
''Putting people's lives in the hands -- flippers -- of dolphins or sea lions is weird,'' she said. What the animals do is a game; a trick performed for a reward, she said, not a life-and-death issue that it would be for a human diver searching for intruders or mines.
''You're asking a sea lion to put a clamp on a man . . . who might turn around and shoot it.'' Rose said. ``There is something wrong with that.''
Other critics say that rewarding animals with food is a form of food depravation: Animals are kept hungry so that they will perform.
To the contrary, Sea World officials say the sea lions get excellent care and are not mistreated in any way by the Navy.
BIG INVESTMENT
''They never withhold food from marine mammals,'' Budzyna said, noting that they have meticulously prepared diets. ``They build on positive reinforcement. It is an error to say that food depravation is going on. They are extremely well cared for. It is a big investment for the Navy; they are certainly not going to put their animals in any jeopardy whatsoever.''
Use of sea lions in the defense plan for America's ports would require a ''monumental increase in funding'' which isn't likely, said Patrick Garrett, associate analyst with GlobalSecurity.org, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank on military, intelligence and space issues.
The military will not divulge the cost of the marine mammal program.
Copyright © 2003, The Miami Herald and wire service sources
