S. Korea Pressed to Ban Drift Nets : Environment: Japan’s decision to quit using deadly gear puts the focus on Seoul.

One day after Japan’s surprising decision to ban the use of high seas drift nets, international pressure mounted Tuesday on South Korea to quickly follow suit and become the last major Pacific nation to renounce the “curtains of death.”

Even as the U.S. State Department and environmentalists celebrated Japan’s decision, they called on South Korea to join Japan and Taiwan in prohibiting its fishing fleets from using the controversial nets that have indiscriminately snared thousands of marine mammals, sea birds and fish.

But the South Korean Embassy in Washington said its government had no immediate plans to follow Japan’s lead. Embassy First Secretary Yong Suh argued it was easier for Japan to convert its newer drift net fleet to other uses than it was for South Korea’s aging fishing boats. “Our drift net vessels can be transferred only to (hauling) garbage and waste,” Suh said.

But Suh said that South Korea’s position could change. “Things are moving so fast,” he said.

On Tuesday Japan announced it would reverse its longstanding opposition to a ban, a move that delighted the United States and environmentalists but angered Japanese fishermen. Japan said it would begin phasing out drift nets next January, and completely end their use by Dec. 31, 1992.

U.S. officials reopened direct talks with South Korea Tuesday to persuade them to do the same. Rep. Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.), who has pushed for a ban, said the State Department told her talks with South Korea would begin immediately.

In Washington, the State Department released a statement calling on “all those who fish with large-scale drift nets on the high seas” to join in a worldwide moratorium.

A showdown over the highly charged issue could come as early as today when a U.N. panel is scheduled to open debate on a U.S.-sponsored resolution for a worldwide ban of all large-scale drift nets by Dec. 31, 1992. The resolution calls for an interim 50% reduction by June 30. Large-scale nets are those longer than 1.5 miles.

“South Korea remains the wild card, but we hope they will follow the Japanese lead,” said Albert Manville of Defenders of Wildlife, which led an environmental coalition to outlaw the nets.

Taiwan and South Korea make up a third of the 1,000-ship Pacific drift net fleet. Japan, with 600 boats, has the largest drift net fleet. Taiwan announced last August that it would agree to a phase-out of drift nets by next July.

Drift nets first came into use in the early 1960s. But it wasn’t until 1978 that nets longer than 1.5 miles were used. By the 1980s they had become a mainstay of fishermen around the world, dramatically increasing their catches--and depleting fisheries.

Typically, the monofilament mesh is placed into the ocean from the stern of fishing vessels to form great submerged walls as long as 30 miles. Invisible to marine life, the nets snag fish that swim in their path. The nets are used primarily to catch squid and to a lesser extent, tuna.

More than 41 million “non-target” fish--sharks, sea birds, marine mammals and sea turtles--were killed in the Japanese squid drift net fishery alone, the State Department said Tuesday.

“The cumulative and global effect of this impact on the living marine environment justifies the imposition of the moratorium,” the State Department said in the statement.

In Japan, meanwhile, protests mounted from angry fishermen. “Our future is pitch black. We really don’t know what to do next,” said Kazuyasu Kando of the Japan Squid Drift Net Fishery Assn.

The government of Japanese Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa is considering ways to compensate Japanese fishermen, who have estimated the ban would cost them and squid processing companies a total of $770 million annually.

The United States stepped up pressure on Japan following a less stringent U.N. resolution approved in 1989 that also called for a moratorium on drift net fishing. The U.N. resolution, however, allowed for exceptions. Last August, the Senate approved legislation to ban the import of marine products from nations that continued drift net fishing in defiance of the resolution.

While environmentalists hailed the Japanese decision, some were concerned that some fishermen may sail under flags of convenience to circumvent the prohibition.

Paul Watson, founder of the militant Sea Shepherd Society whose ships have rammed drift netters in the past, was among those worried.

“I don’t believe they’re going to stop,” he said. Asked why, Watson replied, “There’s an economic basis. There’s a demand for (squid). They can’t fill the demand through traditional methods of fishing.”

Japanese ships hauled in an estimated 169,000 tons of squid last year. Squid is a common food in Japan, which has the highest per capita consumption of seafood in the world--about 80 pounds a year. Americans average about 15 pounds a year.