- Feb 5, 2002
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An island 50 miles (80 kilometers) off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula is home to a unique and celebrated community of women: the Haenyeo.
These women dive year-round off Jeju Island, collecting sea urchin, abalone and other seafood from the ocean floor, descending as much as 60 feet (18 meters) beneath the surface multiple times over the course of four to five hours each day. They dive throughout pregnancy and well into old age, without the help of any breathing equipment — just a wet suit.
“For thousands of years, we think, they’ve been doing this incredible, matrilineal thing, where they learn from the mother how to dive at a very young age. They go out in these collectives, and that’s what they do. They dive,” said Melissa Ann Ilardo, a geneticist and assistant professor in biomedical informatics at the University of Utah.
“They’re spending really an extraordinary percentage of their time underwater.”
Continued below.
These women dive year-round off Jeju Island, collecting sea urchin, abalone and other seafood from the ocean floor, descending as much as 60 feet (18 meters) beneath the surface multiple times over the course of four to five hours each day. They dive throughout pregnancy and well into old age, without the help of any breathing equipment — just a wet suit.
“For thousands of years, we think, they’ve been doing this incredible, matrilineal thing, where they learn from the mother how to dive at a very young age. They go out in these collectives, and that’s what they do. They dive,” said Melissa Ann Ilardo, a geneticist and assistant professor in biomedical informatics at the University of Utah.
“They’re spending really an extraordinary percentage of their time underwater.”
Continued below.
