The Ama are skin-divers that collect shellfish, sea-slugs,octopus, sea-urchins, and seaweed. These women will hyperventilate and then dive into the water while holding a weight to help sink. Then, they will tug on the rope when ready to come up. After being pulled up to the boat, the women breath in painful gasps. However, these women typically do not experience decompression sickness due to the short dive of about a minute where half of it is spent at the bottom.