“There have been no buyers yet,” said fish trader Choi Mi-ja as the clock ticked toward 3 p.m., some 10 hours after her store at the Noryangjin Fisheries Wholesale Market opened for the day.

“In 26 years in this business, I’ve never seen anything like this before,” Ms. Choi added, standing by tanks where live, locally bred flatfish and Russian-imported king crabs were displayed.

Ms. Choi’s predicament provides a taste of the psychological impact of Japan’s nuclear crisis on South Korea’s seafood industry.

Sales of marine products have plummeted in recent months as three out of every four Koreans say they have cut back on fish consumption following leaks of radioactive water from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan.

The fears come despite Seoul imposing some of the toughest restrictions on seafood imports from Japan. Since September, it has blocked all fishery imports from eight prefectures surrounding the Fukushima Daiichi plant, on Japan’s Pacific coast.

Around 80% of seafood consumed in South Korea is caught locally, where there is no evidence of any impact from the nuclear disaster. Despite the facts, many Koreans are shunning seafood.

Ms. Choi, 53 years old, owner of one of about 800 stores lining the smelly alleys at Noryangjin in western Seoul, said sales fell by two-thirds immediately after news broke in August about the radioactive water leak. Three months have passed, and there is no sign of a pickup at her store or others in the market.

The reaction to the leak in South Korea reflects both an extreme sensitivity to food safety in the country and a tendency for rumors to spread quickly due to the country’s ubiquitous Internet connections. Concerns over seafood safety are discussed daily across chat rooms and story comments.

In 2008, a government decision to lift an import ban on U.S. beef products over unproven fears of mad-cow disease triggered months of street demonstrations in Seoul and other cities in South Korea. Beef consumption fell sharply for a while.

In 2012, South Korea consumed 6.1 million tons of marine products—including 1.1 million tons from foreign shipments—according to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Seoul. Imports from Japan were 32,000 tons, of which around 20% came from prefectures now under the South Korean import ban. In 2013 through to October, total imports from Japan were 25,000 tons.

Safety checks on imported fishery products have increased—the maximum permissible level of radiation was lowered to 100 Becquerels per kilogram from 370. The Seoul government now announces the results of the twice-a-week radiation tests on all domestically traded marine products and has found no radioactivity in domestic marine products.

The Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries held a seafood-cooking competition on Nov. 6 to promote marine products, and officials have emphasized the safety of produce.

Despite the safety measures, import bans and government drives, the survey conducted in October by the Korea Rural Economic Institute showed that 77.5% of South Koreans said they were eating less seafood than before due to safety fears.

Chae Ae-kyoung is another retailer despairing over the collapse in consumption. Ms. Chae, 56, has run a sushi restaurant in Bundang, just south of Seoul, for eight years, and said sales have fallen by half since the reports about the radiation leakage began.

“Business has never been as bad as now,” she said.

Last month, Ms. Chae bought a radiation detector to check all fish before serving, and put a notice outside her restaurant to let customers know about it. She says it hasn’t helped.

Kim Ha-neul is a Seoulite who opted to avoid seafood on a recent evening out.

“The government says fish is safe to eat now, but how can we be so sure that the government is really honest about food safety?” said Ms. Kim, 20, who picked a barbecue restaurant—rather than her boyfriend’s favorite of Japanese sushi.

“Luckily, I’m not a big fish fan,” Ms. Kim said in a big smile, flipping a slice of pork on the grill.

—Min Sun Lee contributed to this article.

- See more at: http://globalresearchreport.com/2013/11/16/fish-is-off-the-menu-in-south-korea-over-radiation-fears/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+globalresearchreport+(Global+Research+Report)#sthash.65IzVl3m.W7sEBLNe.dpuf