What if someone told you that mermaids are real?
Forget the fishtails, we mean women who can hold their breath for minutes while diving under the sea hundreds of times a day.
These are the haenyeo divers of South Korea, a community of women from Jeju Island who have been free-diving (without oxygen) to harvest seafood for centuries.
Now that most of them are in their 60s, 70s and 80s, their traditions and way of life are in danger as fewer younger women enter the profession, and as the ocean is potentially changing beyond recognition.
It is these facts that prompted American-Korean filmmaker Sue Kim to team up with female education advocate and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafazai to share their story with the world.
The daughter of Korean immigrants, U.S.-born Kim first encountered the haenyeo when she was a child, vacationing in South Korea.
“I was so impressed with them for the same reasons you see in the film: they were so incredibly bold, vibrant and confident. They were also so loud… fighting and laughing, and they just radiated great energy and took up their space so brazenly,” says Lee.
“I just fell in love with that whole atmosphere and big energy when I was a little girl. And so I grew up being fascinated by them. They were a version of Korean femininity that I was inspired by and wanted to emulate” , she adds. .
“I was so shocked that I didn’t know about the haenyeo, like so many people didn’t. I immediately said yes,” explains Malala, who was a producer on the film.
“The story really took on urgency about ten years ago when I found out that this was probably the last generation of the haenyeo,” Lee explains. “It became increasingly an urgent mandate to make sure someone was documented… while we still had them and they could still tell us their own story in their own words.”
The film follows the women as they go about their grueling work during the harvest season and explores the challenges they face both in and out of the water.
They go diving every day at 6am. They hold their breath for a few minutes, come back to the surface and go back down – between 100 and 300 times per session.
Imagine the fitness levels. They harvest for four hours and then spend another three or four hours shelling and preparing their catch.
There are several theories as to why women began taking over this traditionally male job so many years ago. The Visit Jeju website states that the number of men overall was low in the population because a large proportion of them died in rough seas while boat fishing.
As a result, there were not many men to harvest the ocean, so women gradually took over the task.
‘Sad grandma trope’
This is the first major documentary about the haenyeo and Kim says it was difficult to gain access.
“The haenyeo communities are very isolated,” she explains.
“They are rural communities living in fishing villages. They don’t have much contact with the cities of Jeju.”
Kim found a researcher who had a history with NGOs and had contacts in the community.
“So this woman… introduced us, then I went down and actually spent two weeks with… the Haenyeo communities and really gained their trust. And I did that by mostly listening.
‘They actually wanted to talk about everything that happened to them.
“They wanted to talk about the fact that they felt like they were on the brink of extinction. They wanted to talk about what was happening to the ocean, which no one seemed to know or care about.”
Kim says she had to reassure the women that she wouldn’t stereotype them or feel sorry for them for working into old age.
“They love to work! They think that’s what makes them so strong and powerful.”
Kim told them that she would show them their ‘true power’.
“I promise I won’t adopt this sad grandma trope because I don’t see you guys like that, I see you guys as heroes,” she explained to the group.
“After that we became a family.”
The risks are great. No insurance is available for the work because it is too dangerous. And now the ocean – and the women’s livelihoods – are under threat.
Global warming is leading to less marine life, especially in shallow water; diving deeper is more difficult without oxygen.
Much of the film focuses on the women’s protests against the radioactive water from Japan’s Fukishima plant is discharged into the ocean (Jeju borders Japan), bringing one of the haeneyeos, Soon Deok Jang, straight to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The message from experts is overwhelming that the release is safe and has been given the green light by the International Atomic Energy Agency, but not all scientists agree on the impact it will have.
Although the haenyeo harvest marine life, there are rules about when they can harvest certain types of seafood, which helps protect the ecosystem.
Another reason they don’t use oxygen tanks is because “they believe that by holding their breath they can harvest the natural amount of marine life they should harvest,” Kim explains, which helps prevent overfishing.
Perhaps the greater threat comes from within, however, as fewer younger women choose to enter this difficult profession.
A training school was established in the early 2000s to try to stem the declining numbers, but only 5% of visitors become haenyeos.
Yet all is not lost. The film introduces us to two young women from another island who have found followers on social media and point out the flexible hours the job can offer around family life. One of them had to learn to swim at the age of 30 to be able to do this job.
The older women meet them for festivals and protests – they call them ‘their babies’, while in return they are called ‘aunts’.
Yousafzai is inspired: “When I look at the haenyeo and how they work together, it reminds me of the collective work that women everywhere else are doing, including the advocacy that Afghan women are doing to raise awareness of the systematic oppression they face .”
“If a girl watches this documentary, I want her to believe in herself and realize that she can do anything. She can stay underwater for two to three minutes without oxygen,” she says. “And of course I still have to do that.” take some swimming lessons to learn to swim! I’m at point zero, but it has inspired me to consider taking up swimming.”
The Last of the Sea Women will be available on Apple TV+ on October 11, 2024.
