Althouse: "For hundreds of years, women in the South Korean island province of Jeju have made their living harvesting seafood by hand from the ocean floor."

March 30, 2015

"For hundreds of years, women in the South Korean island province of Jeju have made their living harvesting seafood by hand from the ocean floor."

"Known as haenyeo, or sea women, they use no breathing equipment, although a typical dive might last around two minutes and take them as deep as ten metres underwater. Wearing old-fashioned headlight-shaped scuba masks, most dive with lead weights strapped around their waists to help them sink faster...."

Great photos by Hyung S. Kim.

12 comments:

Bad Lieutenant said...: Kissy Suzuki! You Only Live Twice!
but I thought the Ama girls were Japanese...; 3/30/15, 9:21 AM
BarrySanders20 said...: I think these ladies could teach the millennials a thing or two.; 3/30/15, 9:24 AM
Anonymous said...: The pictures are great, but the inevitable explanation: "I wanted to capture this extreme duality of the women: their utmost strength combined with human fragility” is idiotic.

If this practice has been going on for hundreds of years, what did they wear before scuba suits were invented? It seems that even these women (like the rest of us) are pikers compared to their own ancestors.; 3/30/15, 9:38 AM
Anonymous said...: If this practice has been going on for hundreds of years, what did they wear before scuba suits were invented?

Some traditional divers elsewhere use blubber (seal) to rub themselves down and provide minimal insulation; 3/30/15, 9:49 AM
bleh said...: The NYT observes that these women are "nonwhite," but that there's a question "why the island province of Jeju did not choose a man to crack the all-female club of freedriving seafood harvesters."; 3/30/15, 9:50 AM
Anonymous said...: "why the island province of Jeju did not choose a man to crack the all-female club of freedriving seafood harvesters."

The female body has a higher fat % than the male.

and I suspect that it's a safer job than the men, who I suspect were offshore fishing.

gatherer, versus hunter is pretty deep in the human genome...; 3/30/15, 10:13 AM
Brian said...: The floral vests are a nice touch; made me smile.; 3/30/15, 10:43 AM
Krumhorn said...: One of them looks like she used to be cute. I can almost write Lazlo's post riffing on their sexual habits as they take a deep breath and go down to fill their tewak.

But I am not Lazlo.

- I am Krumhorn; 3/30/15, 11:15 AM
traditionalguy said...: I bet the eat lots of fresh fish and shell food. Or do they hate seeing it because they have to work with it all day long. This could be a good chicken market.; 3/30/15, 11:17 AM
Scott said...: "Last year, South Korea applied to have the haenyeo added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage list."

The list is written in invisible ink in an incomprehensible language. Theoretically, anyway, since we lost the paper. Forget I ever said anything.; 3/30/15, 12:14 PM
ken in tx said...: Jeju Do is where the cherry trees came from that the Japanese gave to Wash. DC. Korea was a Japanese colony then.; 3/30/15, 3:48 PM
chillblaine said...: Sea hags. Crustacean crones. Moistened bints. With all respect, I should add.; 3/30/15, 8:01 PM