For over a few years, a group of people known as “Ama” have been traveling the world by sea, going under the water at 30 meters deep, collecting seaweed and plastic to help the ocean wildlife. When diving in, they don’t use any oxygen and just take a big deep breath! The Ama women say they “love to spend time collecting trash and unknown items to help save the world.” By far, they have been the most known group of people to be so kind to the sea.

The history of the Ama goes back for more than 2,000 years. Theories say that the Ama only ever contains women, as they have pride in beating the men. People say that men would try to help out, but they would end up just fishing and not helping the women with the sea. The tradition was passed down from daughters to granddaughters. Many Japanese families have at least one member that participated with the Ama.

These women train a lot to get their lugs so strong for the under water. They use a bandanna to cover their hair so it doesn’t get in their face while going under for 60 seconds per training. They train 5 times a week for five hours per day, leaving them 2 days to be under the sea. When in the ocean they can get up to 24 hours of pick up, even though it may be hard during the night.

So far these Japanese women will not give out their names as they just want to be able to lead quiet lives. They plan on having their daughters and granddaughters pass down the tradition to their loves ones.