The haenyeo: the sea women of Jeju

Off a rocky coast of Jeju Island, a head emerges briefly from the swell. A long whistle pierces the air — a powerful breath, almost a song — then the silhouette dives again, vanishing into the cold water. For hours, without a tank or sophisticated mask, she descends to look for abalone and sea urchins on the bottom. This woman, often over sixty years old, is a haenyeo.

The haenyeo, literally the "sea women," are the traditional women divers of the Korean island of Jeju. Free-diving, without breathing apparatus, they have for centuries harvested shellfish, seaweed and seafood from the ocean floor. Far more than a trade, they embody a rare social model and a living heritage today threatened with disappearance.

Diving without a tank#

The work of the haenyeo rests on an extraordinary physical skill: free-diving. Without an oxygen tank, they descend to ten metres deep, sometimes more, and stay there for long seconds to gather by hand abalone, sea urchins, conches, octopus and seaweed. One dive follows another for hours, in often icy water.

Their sonic signature is the sumbisori, that characteristic whistle they emit on returning to the surface: a sudden and powerful exhalation that empties the lungs of carbon dioxide before the next breath. This breath, particular to each diver, resounds off the coasts of Jeju like the very breathing of the ocean.

The sumbisori is not a cry of fatigue: it is the controlled breath of one who has learned to make free-diving a trade.

A society carried by women#

The most striking thing about the haenyeo is their place in society. In a traditional, deeply Confucian Korea, where the social order placed man above woman, the community of Jeju divers constituted a remarkable exception: it is the women who dived, earned the household's money and structured the local economy. A reversal of roles rare in the peninsula.

This organisation, sometimes described as matriarchal or semi-matriarchal, made the haenyeo economic pillars and respected figures. The knowledge was transmitted from mother to daughter, in collectives of mutually supportive divers who shared fishing zones, rules and mutual aid. To dive was not only a job: it was a belonging.

A knowledge on the edge of extinction#

The great fragility of the haenyeo lies in their age. The trade, demanding and dangerous, no longer attracts the young generations, swept up by other ways of life. Today, the majority of the divers are between sixty and eighty years old: they are grandmothers who continue to descend into the cold water, while the next generation grows scarce. A centuries-old tradition risks dying out with them.

The haenyeo have adapted without renouncing the essential: they now wear modern neoprene diving suits, but continue to dive by free-diving, refusing the tanks that would denature their art and exhaust the seabeds. This deliberate restraint also testifies to an ecological wisdom: to take only what the sea can give.

A world heritage#

In 2016, UNESCO inscribed the culture of the Jeju haenyeo on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The recognition hails not only a fishing technique, but a whole way of life: a community of women, a transmitted knowledge, a sustainable relationship with the sea. It also aims to support a heritage that time threatens.

From the rocky depths of Jeju to the halls of UNESCO, the sea women embody a quiet strength and an uncommon independence. To discover them is to meet a Korea one rarely expects — insular, feminine, attuned to the ocean. And to learn Korean is to be able to hear the meaning of the sumbisori, understand why they are called "sea women" and grasp the pride of a trade on the edge of silence.

FAQ#

Who are the haenyeo? The haenyeo (해녀), or "sea women," are the traditional women divers of the Korean island of Jeju. They harvest by free-diving, without a tank, abalone, sea urchins, shellfish and seaweed from the ocean floor, a trade practised by women for centuries.

What is the sumbisori? The sumbisori (숨비소리) is the characteristic whistle the haenyeo emit on returning to the surface: a sudden and powerful exhalation that expels carbon dioxide from the lungs before the next dive. Each diver has her own breath.

Why is haenyeo society remarkable? In a traditional, Confucian and patriarchal Korea, the haenyeo formed a community where women dived, earned the household's money and structured the local economy — an exceptional semi-matriarchal model, with knowledge transmitted from mother to daughter.

Are the haenyeo recognised by UNESCO? Yes. In 2016, the culture of the Jeju haenyeo was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, which hailed a threatened way of life, most of the divers now being elderly.

Photo credits: the images used in this article come from Pexels and Unsplash and are royalty-free.