“Jeju island is famous for three things—rocks, wind and women.”
That’s how The Last of the Sea Women, a brand-new documentary that hits Apple TV+ on October 11 starts: a declaration of the importance of women in this part of the world. The documentary follows a group of haenyeo, South Korean female free-divers who catch and sell seafood on the country’s biggest island.
Directed by Sue Kim (who also directed the 2020 documentary short The Speed Cubers) and produced by Nobel Prize award winner Malala Yousafzai under her production company Extracurricular Productions, The Last of the Sea Women dives deep into the culture of the haenyeo and the important work they do—both as fisherwomen but also as stewards of the ocean.
The women work together to harvest sea urchins, clams, abalone and more. In fact, the haenyeo tradition goes back centuries, with the practice reaching peak popularity in the 1950s. Today, their numbers are in decline: most of the living haenyeo are now in their 60s and 70s, and fewer and fewer young women want to take up the mantle. It’s a hard line of work: haenyeo need to be able to hold their breath for over two minutes and dive up to 20 metres deep.
Kim first encountered the haenyeo when she was eight years old, visiting Korea with her family.
“They were so bold, so confident, so loud, so funny, and they just really imprinted on me at a very impressionable age,” she tells the RepresentASIAN Project. Then, about a decade ago, when she was on a trip to Jeju, she encountered an 84-year-old haenyeo. “She was the one that told me ‘we are the last generation of the haenyeo,’ and that was the moment I decided that someone needed to document this culture and community while we still have them.”
But The Last of the Sea Women isn’t just a portrait of this generation of fisherwomen. Soon after the film starts, news that Japan will be releasing contaminated water from the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident into the ocean reaches Jeju. The contaminated water, which will be released over 30 years, will quickly make its way to South Korean waters, and scientists aren’t sure what the impact on the ocean bed, marine life and humans will be.
Spurred by this news, the haenyeo spring into action to organize politically to reverse the decision. One of the elder haenyeo even flies to Geneva to testify at the United Nations and speak on the catastrophe that Japan releasing the water would unleash.
“They have this natural urge to care, to protect and be in community and sisterhood with each other,” Kim says.
When Kim first started working on the project, she just thought that the haenyeo were on the verge of extinction because of disinterest from younger generations. That is true, she says, but the impact of climate change and pollution on the world’s oceans is an even bigger threat to the haenyeo tradition and lives.
“They are witnessing what is happening to marine life and the ecosystem every single day,” Kim says. It’s why the women spring into action so quickly when news of Japan’s decision reaches them: their jobs aren’t just about harvesting seafood, it’s also about protecting the ocean environment for future generations.
When we think of badasses, we think of sword-swinging, karate-chopping heroes. Often, they’re dragon ladies or samurai or ninjas. But the haenyeo and The Last of the Sea Women remind us all that nothing is more badass and inspiring than working towards a better future for all.
The haenyeo are elderly—and many of them speak candidly in the documentary about their mortality. Even the younger haenyeo, who are in their late 20s and early 30s, know that they’re fighting for the next generation’s ability to have clean oceans and healthy sea life. They are fighting a fight that they may not live to see the conclusion of. But having spent their lives in the sea, learning the ins and outs of aquatic life, watching as the oceans become less healthy, the haenyeo know how important the fight is for the next generation.
Their heroism isn’t a product of their superhuman abilities to swim underwater and catch loads of seafood: it stems from their ability to see past themselves and put aside their personal comfort in the pursuit of a better future.
Kim says that she found the haenyeo’s determination empowering. “They weren’t just going to sit on their laurels or feel sorry for themselves; they instantly turned into determined activists from that moment forward. … It would be so easy to turn a blind eye to anything that’s happening, it’s not going to affect them much. But the reason for their activism and the passion behind their activism all stems from wanting to pass on a better sea and a better life for their children and descendents.”
For Yousafzai, who has spent much of her life campaigning for girls’ education to ensure the success of the next generation, the haenyeo’s activism illustrates the importance of collective action.
“It’s not just about you, it’s not just about one person, it’s about the collective work of people that can really help us bring change and help us thrive,” she tells the RepresentASIAN Project.
There’s one clip in particular that stays with Yousafzai: when a 90-year-old haenyeo challenges everyone to protect the environment. She explains, “I just looked at myself and I said: ‘what’s your excuse? What’s anyone’s excuse?’ They inspired me to be a more determined, dedicated and committed activist.”
If that isn’t badass, then I don’t know what is.
The Last of the Sea Women hits Apple TV+ on October 11.
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