00:02Deep beneath the waters off South Korea's Jeju Island,
00:05Kom Yong-hyo, a hen-yo, or sea woman, navigates the ocean floor.
00:09Though she can dive to a depth of up to 26 feet on her own breath,
00:13she carries an oxygen tank as she swims past schools of fish
00:17and towards a cluster of soft corals,
00:19which, despite their vibrant colors, are at risk of dying.
00:23These soft corals are slumping.
00:25Due to climate change, changing environmental conditions
00:28can disrupt the internal fluid pressure
00:31that keeps these marine invertebrates upright.
00:33Unlike hard corals, soft corals do not have rigid skeletons to support them.
00:44Today, the outdoor air temperature is a bit high.
00:47And when I went underwater, even in the deep areas,
00:51so many corals are lying collapsed.
00:54So under the water, I initially counted the fallen corals,
00:57one, two, three, up to about five.
01:01Then the Dendronepthia gigantea and the Dendronepthia castanea
01:05have also fallen one after another relentlessly.
01:09And there are so many of them lying collapsed like that, with no end in sight.
01:16The Paran Ocean Citizen Science Center says
01:19the slumping phenomenon has reappeared this year.
01:22The group monitors Jeju's UNESCO listed soft coral habitat
01:26and says roughly half of one coral cluster near the islet of Bomsom
01:30has been struggling in recent months.
01:33Researchers with the Korea Institute of Ocean Science and Technology,
01:37or Kiosk, documented a major slumping event in 2024.
01:41They say conditions this year appear similar.
01:44But the situation could worsen as an El Niño weather phenomenon
01:47is expected to bring more typhoons and heavy rainfall through September.
01:52Coral researchers say erratic weather conditions affect the area's salinity
01:56and are potential triggers of slumping.
01:59Paran's environmental expert advisor, Yoon Sung-hoon,
02:02said it's a cause for concern, as the health of these coral communities
02:06has a major impact on the marine life around them.
02:10The seaweed sea, the coral sea, is the foundational ecosystem
02:14underlying Jeju's marine ecology.
02:16So if this foundational ecosystem collapses,
02:18there is a very high possibility that the entire marine ecosystem
02:22could collapse as well.
02:24From an economic standpoint, scientist Kang Do-hyun of Kiosk
02:27said that even the diversity of seafood species available in local restaurants
02:31could be affected by the loss of soft corals.
02:35Yet researchers say long-term monitoring of coral slumping remains limited.
02:40But the Korea Heritage Service said it is monitoring this year's situation
02:44and will keep up long-term research on the event.
02:48In Jeju, taking care of these corals is a community effort.
02:52For Ko and her family, who have been diving for years to harvest seafood for sale,
02:57the sea has long provided a livelihood.
02:59As climate change warms the seabed, the harvest has waned, while Ko's worry has grown.
03:07That place is so beautiful and has been a source of comfort in my life.
03:14Watching it collapse like that, turning white, I was so bewildered and felt afraid,
03:21wondering, is the sea now completely collapsing?
03:27I was afraid.
03:30Oh, it's a question.
03:30Oh, don't you say it's been a great time before this?
03:32It's enough.
03:33Turn-in to the sea.
03:33Turn-in to the sea.
03:33Turn-in to the sea.
03:34Turn-in to the beach.
03:34Turn-in to the sea.
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