UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations on Friday adopted a resolution banning drift-net fishing, calling for an end to the 30-mile-long “curtains of death” from waters worldwide starting in 1993.

The nets are invisible to sea life as they float from a cork line, scooping down as deep as 50 feet to trap and kill all marine life in their path, including whales, seals, dolphins, tuna and sea birds.

The General Assembly resolution has no provision for enforcement, but the three countries that opposed such a ban in the past — Japan, South Korea and Taiwan — agreed to abide by it. Adoption was by consensus.

“We will celebrate this over the Christmas season,” said Jerry Leape, a spokesman for Greenpeace International in Washington, D.C.

“By definition, after Dec. 31, 1992, all vessels that continue to ply the seas with drift nets will be considered pirate vessels.”

Leape expressed concern about enforcement, however, saying the world would look to leadership from the United States and Canada in stopping drift-net ships.

Rep. Jolene Unsoeld (D-Wash.), a member of the House Merchant Marine and Fisheries Committee, demanded an international enforcement agreement. She also urged approval of a House bill she sponsored mandating sanctions and military enforcement.

She said that nevertheless, the U.N. resolution “marks a turning point — a stunning realization by nations all over the globe that these `curtains of death’ threaten … the future of our world’s marine resources.”

Japan, which has the world’s largest drift-net fleet of about 450 vessels, tried to offer an alternative resolution that would have allowed continued use of drift nets while they were redesigned to reduce their destructiveness.

Japan eventually withdraw the proposal under international pressure and co-sponsored the resolution adopted Friday.

The United States and its co-sponsors had sought a ban by mid-1992, but compromised to accept a 50 percent reduction by midyear and a total ban at the end of 1992.

Taiwan, which is not a U.N. member, and South Korea each has about 150 drift-net vessels.

The Asian countries’ drift-net fleets fish mainly for squid in the North Pacific Ocean. But the nets stretch as long as 30 miles and can trap and kill all marine life in their path.

Two years ago, the General Assembly adopted a resolution banning drift-net fishing in the South Pacific, which pushed many of the fishing vessels into the North Pacific, the Atlantic and Caribbean waters.

A study by the United States, Canada and Japan on high-seas drift-net vessels from June to December of 1989 found that 59,060 albacore tuna, 58,100 blue sharks, 9,173 sea birds and 914 dolphins were captured. The study covered only 4 percent of Japan’s drift-net squid fishery.

The Environmental Investigation Agency, a London-based conservation group, said its study showed 100,000 dolphins killed every year in drift nets. Officials say an analysis based on a U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization report indicated the figure could be between 300,000 and a million.

The United States has complained about American-bred salmon caught in the ocean by drift nets. The American fishing industry has protested such use.