First of all, the bill would sanction the chase, and capture, of dolphins in nets while pretending it's safe for dolphins. Because some tuna follow dolphins in the eastern Pacific Ocean, one way to harvest tuna is to capture the dolphins. Under this fishing method, the dolphin population most closely linked to the harvesting of tuna was reduced to less than a fourth its original size. The dolphin-safe policy that went into effect in 1990 has saved thousands of dolphin lives, but now S.39 would undo that policy and permit the commercial fleets once again to run down and net dolphins indiscriminately. Anyone who thinks that chasing dolphins for hours at a time with speedboats, helicopters and seiners is safe for dolphins, as S.39 prescribes, could never have witnessed this form of torture.
Dolphins expend enormous amounts of energy to avoid capture in tuna nets.
In fact, research conducted on dolphins shows evidence that they can literally be chased to death. Currents, riptides, malfunctions and human errors inevitably occur with the purse seine fishing method, so named because the nets close like a string purse, often entangling and preventing dolphins from rising to the surface to breathe. As a result, this method has been responsible for the slaughter of seven million dolphins since the late 1950s. Passage of S.39 would increase reliance on a disastrous practice that has nearly destroyed several populations of dolphins. S.39 establishes an indefinite kill of 5,000 dolphins annually by intentionally capturing depleted populations of dolphins in nets.