JEJU ISLAND, Apr 27 (IPS) – Forward of the tenth Our Ocean Convention, with the theme “Our Ocean, Our Motion,” comes a world name to guard the world’s oceans.
The convention begins tomorrow (April 28) and ends on Wednesday and takes place in Busan, Korea.
On Jeju Island, located south of the Korean Peninsula and west of southern Japan, a neighborhood of conventional ladies divers protects an ocean in disaster.
Haenyeo are extremely expert feminine divers who dive to important depths of as much as 15 meters, usually with out assistance from oxygen tanks or different respiration tools, and may maintain their breath for prolonged durations of as much as 45 minutes. They use a particular whistling sound, sumbi sori, when resurfacing to clear their lungs of carbon dioxide.
“A number of the ladies are of their 80s. We dive till we are able to not transfer. I’m 69 years previous. Till 5 years in the past, when my daughter grew to become a haenyeo, I used to be the youngest diver for 45 years. The oldest diver alive is 95 years previous. She retired at 90 years. My mom was a diver too,” says Chunsuk Son, in Iho-dong village in Jeju Island.
Jeju Island is surrounded by each sea and ocean, as it’s positioned within the East China Sea and likewise faces the Pacific Ocean to the south. The island is within the Korea Strait, surrounded by the Yellow Sea and the East/Japan Sea. Jeju Island is a novel location the place the northern and southern distributional limits meet, as all species have restricted ecological distributions.
Myeonghyo Ko, her daughter, a diver, and a college graduate, says haenyeo have in depth data of the ocean’s topography, marine life, and climate patterns that assist them select the perfect time and areas for diving to gather seafood like abalone, sea urchins, and seaweed whereas avoiding overfishing, respecting seasonal restrictions, and using conventional ecological data to guard the ocean.
The tradition of Jeju Haenyeo is acknowledged by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. On the tenth anniversary of the Our Ocean Convention underneath the theme ‘Our Ocean, Our Motion’, such actions from the neighborhood, governments, worldwide organizations, main companies, NGOs, and academia might be highlighted and promoted in direction of sustainable oceans.
Sanghoon Yoon, skilled advisor at Paran Ocean Citizen Science Centre, an NGO based for residents to analysis and collect knowledge for eco-diversity, says local weather change is altering Jeju’s aquatic ecosystem “as species now we have not seen earlier than are showing to switch native species. For example, tropical fish and colourful corals are showing in Jeju waters instead of the native conch, brown algae, and abalone.”
“One-third of Jeju Ocean is devastated. It’s not local weather change however a local weather disaster. However it’s for us to essentially determine whether or not this can be a disaster or an opportunity to revive and defend.”
As international warming takes a toll on the ecosystems of Korea’s seas, skilled divers say that barely over a decade in the past, coral reefs and sea anemones, whose pure habitat is within the subtropical waters, began showing within the waters off the coast of Korea’s southern Jeju Island.
Sanghoon says the “common sea temperature of a subtropical ocean is eighteen to twenty levels Celsius. Even in comparison with the common change of the local weather, the temperature of the Jeju Ocean is rising 2.5 occasions. There’s new sea life as others, such because the seaweed forest, disappear.”
In opposition to this backdrop, a long time of harvesting the seas have disrupted the fragile steadiness of marine ecosystems. Almost 90 p.c of worldwide marine fish shares are absolutely exploited or overfished. And even these just like the haenyeo, whose sea harvesting practices are sustainable, are additionally lowering.
Ko, Seung-chul, the top of Beophwan Haenyeo Faculty and chairperson of the fishing village committee, says in 1966 there have been an estimated 24,000 conventional feminine divers, “however that they had lowered to 14,000 within the 1970’s, and additional lowered to 7,800 within the 1980’s, and to six,800 within the 1990’s and as just lately as 2023, there have been solely 2,800 haenyeo. Our haenyeo village college trains younger feminine divers to maintain the tradition alive, particularly as a result of our haenyeo are getting previous.”
In opposition to a backdrop of quite a few challenges, Choi Ji Myung, from the Ministry of Oceans and Fisheries, advised IPS that there’s now a good higher have to broaden marine protected areas (MPAs). These are designated areas the place human actions are regulated or prohibited to guard marine assets and ecosystems from hurt.
MPAs assist restore fish shares, defend delicate habitats, and mitigate the impacts of local weather change.
Jeju Island is designated as a protected space at dwelling and overseas. UNESCO designated Jeju Island as a biosphere reserve in 2002, a World Pure Heritage web site in 2007, and a World Geopark in 2010, and the Korean authorities and native governments have additionally designated the island with numerous protected areas.
In a press briefing, Dr. Younger Nam Kim from the Korea Setting Company (KOEM) said that the present standing of designated MPAs in Korea is such that there’s a complete of 16 marine ecosystem protected areas on Jeju Island, three marine species protected areas, one marine scenic space, and 18 wetland protected areas.
However because the tour round Jeju Island revealed, within the backdrop of large-scale improvement initiatives and almost 16 million guests per 12 months, the Jeju Sea is in a essential situation attributable to fast improve in water temperature, coastal air pollution, sea desertification, and modifications in species attributable to local weather change.
The Busan convention, about 306 kilometers away from Jeju Island, is predicted to ship lasting options to those urgent challenges by constructing on earlier legacy and offering the worldwide ocean neighborhood with a platform to construct again higher.
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