Staff writer
MIKUNI, Fukui Pref. -- Shigeo Umeno thought he once watched the sea die.
Two winters ago the sea off Mikuni, where Umeno, 63, has caught fish such as sea bream and horse mackerel for 34 years, turned black as far as he could see. It was a few days after a Russian tanker sank 150 km off the coast in the Sea of Japan on Jan. 2, 1997.