Return Of The Mermaids

A new generation of female divers is reviving a dying fishing tradition on Jeju Island

- Jonathan Thompson

Their whistles are eerie, otherworldly. From my perch on the black, wave-splattered rocks of the volcanic beach, they seem to be coming from every direction. Shrill echoes reminiscent of marine mammals. But these strange high-pitched wails are human. And they’re getting closer.

This is remote Jeju Island, 105 miles off the southern coast of South Korea. The sharp whistles announce the arrival of a team of haenyeo — the island’s legendary ‘sea women’. Variously described as everything from ‘the last mermaids’ to ‘the Amazons of Asia’, haenyeo have been farming these waters for over 400 years.

Plunging to depths of up to 65ft on just one breath, they expertly harvest everything from shellfish and seaweed to abalone and — most valuable of all — conch shells. Then, returning to the surface, they emit the sumbisori, a whistling sound created by the rapid expulsion of carbon dioxide and intake of oxygen, before diving back down again.