Jeju adventure - Mermaids of Jeju

The Haenyeo diving women - known as the Mermaids of Jeju are representative of the matriarchial family structure of Jeju.

Haenyeo literally means “sea women”

They are skilled divers who can hold their breath for up to two minutes and dive to depths of 20 metres. They fish for abalone, clams and seaweed etc.

Unlike fishermen who go out in boats and use a rod and line, the haenyeo dive without any special equipment. All they take is a float to mark their location when they surface, a hoe to dig up the abalone and other shellfish and a net to hold their catch.

Until the 19^th century diving was done by men but it became unprofitable for them since the men had to pay heavy taxes for this work whereas women did not. Many women divers became the family breadwinners and “head” of the family – this clashed with Korea’s culture in which women had been treated as inferior. The administrators tried unsuccessfully to ban women from diving

In 1950 there were some 30,000 haenyo but by 2003 there were only around 5,000 registered as divers – 85% of these women were over 50. Now there are even less.

There is a wonderful book "Moon Tides" by Brenda Paik Sunoo about the Jeju grannies of the sea. See link for a review of the book Jeju Weekly review