Film about haenyeo, Korea's 'mermaids,' shows women who fight to preserve sea and sisterhood

South Korea’s “haenyeo,” or women divers, say that they’ve become inseparable from their deep blue environment.

South Korea’s “haenyeo,” or women divers, say that they’ve become inseparable from their deep blue environment.

In Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai’s first executive-produced film, she explores the divers’ world, most of them now in their 60s, 70s and 80s and living on Jeju Island, 80 miles off the Korean Peninsula.

The women are preserving a centuries-old tradition, which includes maintaining a sort of sisterhood, and are also vocal against issues like climate change and nuclear waste. 

The documentary “The Last of the Sea Women,” out Friday on Apple TV+, explores the lives of a group of these “real-life mermaids,” as the haenyeo are known, as they strive to protect their livelihood and ancestral craft from a range of external forces.

The divers harvest abalone, sea urchins and more by venturing into dark waters without the aid of oxygen tanks or professional diving equipment, instead using instruments like nets and hoes. In the 1960s, the haenyeo numbered in the 30,000s. Despite being included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage list, today they hover around 3,200 today. 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/haenyeo-koreas-mermaids-last-of-the-sea-women-rcna174723

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