Monday, December 3, 2012 The San Diego-based Navy Marine Mammal
Program is making news. The program's dolphins - trained to
detect mines and other underwater explosives - are going to be
replaced by machines who do the same job, but don't need seven
years to be trained. Beginning in 2017, robots will replace the
mine-hunting duties of 24 of the 80 dolphins in the Navy Marine
Mammal Program. Mike Rothe, who heads up the biosciences
division at the Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center
Pacific in San Diego, told the North County Times: “We are
certain that there’s going to be fewer mine-hunting dolphins...
About a quarter of (the Navy dolphins) would be affected. But
it’s not like they are going to go jobless. We have other
assignments." And what are those assignments? According to North
County Times, the dolphins are still superior to robots at
picking up objects from the ocean floor, and providing port
security. Dolphins phased out of the mine detecting will be
reassigned to those duties.