JEJU WEEKLY
Last Update : 2013.10.24 11:35
EducationJunior Journalist
The dynamic life of Jeju¡¯s woman divers
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¡ã A haenyeo's hands. Photo courtesy Team Tive.

 [This article is written by a JDC Junior Journalist. The JDC Junior Journalist program is an educational project sponsored by Jeju Free International City Development Corporation (JDC). JDC Junior Journalist articles are only briefly edited by mentors before publishing.]

Jeju has been called “Sam-Da Do”, which means there are three main things in Jeju: rocks, wind, and women. As Jeju was made from volcano eruption, the island contains a high volume of basalt. Also, Jeju is located on the North Pacific Ocean’s middle latitude, so the island’s atmospheric pressure makes large scale changes.

Why are there many women in Jeju? Because traditionally, many men in Jeju have been fisherman, and many of them have died at sea when their vessel met an unexpected storm. As a result, there have been many widowed women left in Jeju. Furthermore, they had to support their family without these men. How could they manage? Many of them began diving in the sea with very minimal diving equipment. We call them “Haenyeo”, Jeju’s woman divers.

“Diving is a job that involves holding one’s breath, so it is very dangerous,” said 67 year old Ham Sook Hee, a current woman diver. “while diving, we can go as far as to have heart attack.”

Another current diver, 53 year old Bang Mi Jeong said that the most dangerous thing she experiences in diving is when ships go by her and she doesn’t notice them, or if she loses her sense of direction during foggy weather conditions. As they dive without any oxygen tanks, Haenyeo often experience diizziness and backache. Mrs. Ham added that with her woman diver license, she and all Haenyeo can get free medical service.

A Haenyeo’s working time doesn’t stay constant. They enter the water when the tide is out, and come up when the tide is in; so if the tide comes in during the afternoon, they go to their farm at that time.

“It is one of advantages of this job,” Mrs.Bang said.

Once they enter the water, Haenyeo usually work for four hours straight. When they catch agar (a type of seaweed), 30-50 Haenyeo dive together. When they are diving for conch, 15-20 dive together. After work, they pass on what they’ve gathered from the sea to a broker. Their broker then goes to the Fisheries cooperatives center and sells what the divers caught. Ten percent of the profit goes to fishing village societies.

Nowadays, most young people don’t want to be woman divers. Mrs. Bang is the youngest diver in her village, though she is 53 years old. Mrs. Ham also said that they don’t recommend becoming a woman diver to their daughters.

“I wish the government would offer more support by providing diving equipment to help young divers,” she contended.
 

 

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