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Mainland haenyeo despair as climate change turns Korea's seas barren

Published: 26 Dec. 2024, 07:00

LEE SOO-JUNG
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Three women divers are seen on a boat in Geoje, South Gyeongsang. [JOONGANG ILBO]

"I've dived for over 50 years, and this is the first time I've seen sea urchins dried up dead in the water. The sea pineapples are dead, the conch are dead […] now there's nothing in the sea."

Lee Bok-soon, a professional haenyeo who dives and collects seafood to earn a livelihood, began diving at 18. For 53 years, she has explored the depths, harvesting seafood around 20 days a month for five to six hours a day.

However, Korea's seas no longer compensate for her laborious work, unlike in the past, when they offered plenty of seafood. The ocean's generosity has faded as climate change transforms the marine environment.

“The sea was a lifeline to haenyeo,” Lee said. “Now, the ocean has nothing."

Lee is an eyewitness and a victim of climate change.

Lee said the chill haenyeo used to feel at around two to three meters (about 10 feet) below the surface in summer is now gone. She added that even waters around 10 meters down are “lukewarm,” noting that she and her colleagues frequently encounter blue tropical fish and unknown seaweed species.

While multiple Korean local media outlets have dealt with stories of haenyeo on Jeju Island, those living along Korea's southern coast have received less attention.

With climate change transforming maritime ecosystems in both Jeju and Geoje, a special reporting team of the JoongAng Ilbo, an affiliate of the Korea JoongAng Daily, visited Geoje, an island city near Busan on Korea's southeastern coast, where 314 haenyeo reside, according to statistics from the Geoje city council.

A woman diver collects seafood in waters near Geoje, South Gyeongsang. [JOONGANG ILBO]

All the haenyeo the reporting team interviewed shared the dire transformation of the seas by ocean warming.

This year’s record-breaking scorching heat was deadly to maritime species.

Lee Mal-soon, a fellow haenyeo like Lee Bok-soon with 38 years of experience, said the seas off Geoje were "dying," observing that the “sea temperature increase has been way too much.”

She said breathing underwater has become more challenging due to ocean warming, adding that white insects frequently appear and more haenyeo suffer from dermatitis.

Changing from 6-millimeter-thick diving suits to new, 4-millimeter-thick (0.23-inch) ones hasn't helped enough. "It's too hot even with the 4-millimeter-thick suits," Lee Mal-soon said.

Sea pineapple can survive in water temperatures of 26 degrees Celsius (78.8 degrees Fahrenheit) or below. When the ocean temperature climbs higher, they die. Abalone can endure water temperatures of up to 30 degrees Celsius, while rockfish and fluke can tolerate 28 to 29 degrees Celsius, according to the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries.

According to analysis based on data from the Korea Hydrographic and Oceanographic Agency, the surface temperature of the waters around Geoje has risen by 2.4 degrees Celsius over the last decade — from 27.6 degrees Celsius in August 2014 to 30 degrees Celsius this August.

Daily temperatures, both high and low, were above 29.6 degrees Celsius on Aug. 17 this year. This means the ocean was “deadly” for an entire day.

Once changed, Geoje's waters are no longer as giving as they were in years past.

Dried sea urchin photographed by a woman diver residing in Geoje, South Gyeongsang [JOONGANG ILBO]

“A decade ago, I used to fill my bucket fully after two to three hours of work and earn around 100,000 won ($69) a day,” Lee Mal-soon said. “Now, it's difficult to make 30,000 to 40,000 won even when I dive for five to six hours a day.”

Ocean warming also struck nearby fish farms in South Gyeongsang.

Marine species like sea pineapples, abalone, sea squirt, rockfish, gray mullet and leatherjack broiled and died in the warm waters.

Approximately 59.4 billion won in losses had been incurred at 744 fish farms in six cities and counties as of Oct. 2.

This marked a nearly three-fold increase compared to last year’s figure of 20.7 billion won — which was also a record-high at the time.

Nor are Geoje's waters safe from maritime desertification.

Ocean desertification, which has been observed along the coastlines of Jeju Island for two decades, also advanced northward to Geoje. Edible seaweed was pushed out, and white sulfur powder arrived and blanketed the ocean floor.

“It appears there that nothing will be left underwater in 10 years,” said Lee Yeong-ja, another haenyeo.

Oct. 2 marked the day when all high water temperature alerts were lifted across Korea's seas. The alerts are issued when ocean surface temperatures reach 25 degrees Celsius or higher.

The alerts had been effective for 71 days since their first annual issuance on July 24, the longest ever. The advisory in 2022 and last year lasted 64 and 57 days, respectively.

In September, the average ocean surface temperature was 27.4 degrees Celsius, 3.2 degrees higher than the previous 10 years’ average of 24.2 degrees Celsius.

Lee Bok-soon, a woman diver who has been practicing diving and collecting seafood for over 53 years in Geoje, South Gyeongsang [JOONGANG ILBO]

Ocean warming is a consequence of climate change, which has continued for a long time.

According to a National Institute of Fisheries Science report, Korean sea surface temperatures increased by 1.44 degrees Celsius between 1968 and 2023 — two times higher than the global average of 0.7 degrees Celsius rise.

Jeju's waters have become a new home to subtropical fish species. On average, four to five of 10 fishes caught near the island are subtropical species.

Tropical species that usually live in waters off the Philippines and Taiwan — like the American flagfish and bluelined angelfish — have become dominant in Jeju’s seascape.

In the 1980s, pollack, cutlassfish, sardine and leatherjack fish dominated Korean waters. Squid, mackerel and anchovy took their place in the 1990s. Entering the new millennia, mackerel pike and pollack have become scarce.

Yellow tail and Japanese horse mackerel have recently filled the sea, while Pacific tuna catches exceed customer demand.

Shellfish poisoning occurs earlier than in the past. Shellfish poisoning is when poison accumulates inside the bodies of oysters, mussels and scallops when they digest poison-carrying plankton. If consumed by humans, it can lead to symptoms of vomiting, diarrhea, muscle paralysis and amnesia. At worst, it can cause fatal breathing difficulties.

Of 2,327 shellfish tested this year from 120 fish farms nationwide, 123 or 5.3 percent had poison over the safety threshold, which could cause muscle paralysis. Another 262 were found to be poisonous but at concentrations below the safety limit.

Shellfish poisoning usually occurs in spring. However, its arrival has hastened to late winter.

As late winter is not as cold as before, with ocean temperatures rising earlier, the environment has allowed poisonous plankton to prosper.

“Reversing changes to oceans transformed by climate change is difficult,” said Han In-seong, a senior climate change researcher at the National Institute of Fisheries Science.

“The Korean Peninsula’s coastline ecosystem will be similar to Okinawa if the water temperature increases four to five degrees Celsius.”

A woman who quit her job at an IT firm in Seoul and settled in Geoje to become a haenyeo said she has observed and experienced the ocean’s turn for the worse.

“Nowadays, the catch is at around 70 percent of the catch when I first came to Geoje,” she said, adding that her older colleagues complain that nature was “richer and more generous 10 to 15 years ago.”

Lee Bok-soon said she does not want to recommend her job to young people, asking how she could let them dive into the ocean when there is no seafood to catch.

BY SPECIAL REPORTING TEAM [[email protected]]