Korean Haenyeo Show Diving Skills Comparable to Marine Mammals
- Yul So
- Sep 3
- 1 min read
Sep 3, 2025
Yul So
Korea’s traditional women divers, known as haenyeo, have once again amazed scientists with their remarkable abilities. Recent research has shown that these divers, with an average age of 70, can spend as much as 55.9% of their working time underwater—a level comparable to seals and sea lions, and even higher than semi-aquatic mammals like beavers.
Unlike marine mammals, however, haenyeo show very different physiological responses while diving. Seals and other animals typically display a "dive response," in which their heart rates decrease and blood flow is constricted to preserve oxygen. Haenyeo, on the other hand, exhibit the opposite: their heart rate actually rises while submerged, and blood flow to the brain increases, maintaining stable oxygen levels.
Researchers from the University of Utah and the University of St Andrews led the study, which tracked seven haenyeo, aged 62 to 80, as they harvested sea urchins daily. The women worked in the water for an average of more than four hours every day, with roughly two hours and twenty minutes spent underwater, according to data from 1,786 dives. The majority of dives were brief and shallow, with hundreds of repetitions, but some went as deep as almost five meters.
Scientists suggest that haenyeo’s unique diving style, frequent, brief dives with short recovery times, prevents dangerous oxygen shortages and produces body responses more like exercise than deep diving.
As the current generation of haenyeo ages, researchers emphasize the importance of studying this cultural and biological phenomenon before it disappears. Their extraordinary abilities reflect a mix of tradition, lifelong training, and possibly genetic adaptation.
