The U.S. Navy Marine Mammal Program (NMMP) uses trained dolphins for mine hunting and force protection against unauthorized human swimmers. NMMP has interest in improved cardiac monitoring due to having an aging population of dolphins, several of which over the years have been diagnosed with cardiac disease. In a recent workshop sponsored by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, leading marine mammal researchers gave high priority to the development of improved marine mammal electrocardiogram (ECG) recording. There are currently no user-friendly tags to gather high quality ECG data along with depth and time. Monitoring ECG on dolphins is particularly challenging due to fast and aggressive swimming that causes typical suction cup mounted tags and electrodes to slide, necessitating the use of a neoprene vest secure them in place. However, these vests restrict movement and cause drag and so are not suitable for operational and/or exercising test study conditions. In conjunction with the Joseph M. Long Marine Laboratory (LML) of the University of California Santa Cruz (UCSC), Applied Ocean Sciences proposes the development of a new a state of the art ECG-enabled marine mammal tag with special features to meet and exceed the on-dolphin requirements including: a bi-modal system with a 4-electrode, vest-secured mode for animal diagnostics and a 2-electrode, vest-free mode for operational conditions; flexible (thermoplastic polyurethane) and hydrodynamic tag enclosure; easily configurable data collection settings to balance desired sample rates and battery life; Inertial measure unit (IMU) data to build upon previous ONR research using 2 and 3-axis accelerometers to measure stroke rate and dive patterns; simple, hands free, wireless (Bluetooth) data transfer to a topside application with pairing automatically cued by a surfacing event of sufficient duration. In Phase I, an Alpha prototype version will be developed and in-water tested to show proof of concept. In Phase II, two refined Beta versions will be developed and rigorously tested at the LML lab on two male dolphins following protocols that have already been approved by NAVY BUMED and UCSC animal care and use committees.
Benefit: Along with obvious Phase II applications for the the U.S. Navys NMMP, this technology will transition to use in the marine mammal health management industry for zoos, aquariums, marine mammal parks, and marine mammal conservation organizations. There are currently at least 2,360 cetaceans in captivity worldwide ~2,000 dolphins, 227 beluga, and 53 orca (killer whales). Facilities and researchers who are interested in monitoring marine mammal cardiac health include: SeaWorld (Orlando, FL; San Diego, CA; San Antonio, TX); University of California at Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA.; Miami Seaquarium, Miami, FL.; Kamogawa Sea World, Kamogawa City, Japan; Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR; Greenridge Sciences Inc.; Southall Environmental Associates, Inc.; Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA.; Sea Mammal Research Unit, University of St. Andrews. Based on our colleagues hands-on experience with similar devices, we believe this tag be sold for $4,000 per unit with the demand for the number of units being on the order of 50 to 100, generating a revenue stream between $200K and $400K respectively.
Keywords: cardiac anomalies, cardiac anomalies, Marine Mammals, thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU), ECG, Hydrodynamic Tag
