BASS & BARRA

 

BURO'S BASS & BARRAMUNDI

With a bit of luck and local knowledge, a former school teacher in Gulf Province is forging ahead in small scale fishing.

Gabia Buro was a school teacher who literally fell in love with the big rivers, big swamps and the big fish of the Gulf of Papua when he first set eyes on the mighty Land of Many Rivers.

But the story of his love affair with the black sandy beaches of Kerema goes back to another province and another time.

Buro is from Bigairuka village in Rigo, Central Province. As a young man, he decided to become a teacher and enrolled at Gaulim Teachers College in East New Britain.

A young beauty from Lalapipi near Kerema had just flown in. And so began a whirlwind romance that was to take the Buro couple to schools in Gulf and Central Province.

It was while teaching in Harevavo village in Ihu that Buro realised the vast potential and riverine swamps.

Fish was plentiful, crabs, prawns, lobster. It was unbelievable. It is still mindboggling today, says the Rigo man.

And so after 22 years at the blackboard, the chalkie resigned in 2004 after stints at Harevavo, Uamai, Iokea and Oiapu in Gulf and Bina and Bore community schools in Rigo, Buro was clearly drawn to the vast potential of bass, barramundi and prawns.

He says: "The little project is only three months old at its infant stage which made four sales so far.

"It had started with very little money from the pocket and using borrowed resources such as fishing nets, genset, deep freeze, dinghy and motor. Unfortunately outboard motor was a problem so am paddling the dinghy for fishing.

"The camps are made at the sea shore and the river banks for the catching of fish and prawns. The project is involved in catching barramundi, black bass and prawns (banana, tiger and river prawns).

"The wind and rain gives a lot of problems but that doesn’t stop the operations, nature situations are utilized.

He says the project is educational as it shows and encourages the people that there’s a way out in life using God given resources that surrounds us.

"The big aim of the project is to move to another level where job opportunities created within the family and community at large. Fundamental motivation for the project is that the rapid development taking place in the nation’s capital in the hotel industry and Port Moresby is the nearest market to sell the produce," he adds.

Coupled with fishing is a vegetable farm which was also started in 2018 and both projects go hand in hand to sell the produce to the markets. The bottom line is to have a small business in vegetables, fruits and seafood supplier.

Buro's aim is to produce vegetables, fruits and seafood to supply to the rapid growing hotel industry etc.

"At the moment I’m selling the produce at supermarkets, hotels and main buyer is Wamomo Seafood at Seven mile Jacksons Airport opposite Gateway Hotel."