On Busan’s eastern shoreline, past the neon lights of Haeundae Beach and the towers of Songjeong Beach, the coast narrows into quiet fishing villages.
Here in Daebyeon-ri, in Gijang county, stands a haenyeo village that has carried its traditions on for half a century, where the ocean’s catch and the divers who harvest it remain at the centre of community life.
The village began with nothing more than red plastic basins. Decades ago, haenyeo – female divers who harvest seafood by hand – returning from the sea would place freshly caught abalone, sea cucumbers and sea squirts into tubs while rinsing off by the pier.
Passers-by asked to buy the seafood on the spot, and word soon spread. Over time, the basins became makeshift stalls, and the stalls grew into a cluster of seafood restaurants that today line Daebyeon Port.
The number of haenyeo across South Korea is dropping as many are getting too old to dive. Photo: Reuters
“Back then, people would say ‘give me some of that’ when they saw us wash up with our catch,” recalled veteran haenyeo Im Mal-sook, 78. “If they asked us to slice it, we did. That’s how it all started here.”