Reef Fish Marketing in Buka - Past and Present
Patrick Nomos | 4/5/2019
(Photo: Tropical reef fish for sale in a market).
Traditionally, fish was marketed in Buka, Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), using the barter system whereby fishermen from coastal and nearby island villages would exchange their smoked fish for inland villagers' sweet potatoes, bananas, taro and yams. Up until the early 1980s there was an active market at Carola on Buka's west coast where coastal fishermen and those from the nearby islands of Petats and Pororan would barter their fish for garden produce from inland villages.
From 1985 until immediately prior to the outbreak of the Bougainville Crisis in 1988, a network of ice-making machines in Bougainville produced block ice and flake ice for use by coastal fishermen to preserve their reef fish for sale and private consumption. In addition to ice-making machines located at Buin (Kangu Beach), Kieta, Wakunai and Tinputz, a block ice machine was situated within the Buka Town Market. All of these machines were provided and operated by the Fisheries Division of the Department of North Solomons. The ice produced at the Buka Town Market enabled fishermen to transport their freshly-caught fish to inland villages in fibreglass coolers on trucks, where the fish were readily sold.
The current arrangements for reef fish marketing in Buka are strikingly inferior to those that existed 34 years ago. Very little fresh fish is sold in inland villages, and any that makes its way to the interior on trucks is un-iced, and prone to rapid spoilage. Health Division regulations stipulate that only smoked fish is to be sold in markets, and at least for the Buka Town Market, this fish must be wrapped in plastic film to deter contamination by insects. Because production methods of smoked fish aren't standardised, there is a high risk that the plastic-wrapped smoked fish sold at the market may cause gastro-intestinal problems for its consumers
The demand by Buka villagers for protein is real and immediate, but the relatively high cost of canned tuna and smoked fish puts these protein sources out of the reach of many households. In central Buka, villagers catch tilapia ("Masta Pis" in Tok Pisin) in fresh-water creeks and ponds, but these introduced fish are so stunted that scores of them are needed to provide even one family meal. Occasionally eels are also caught, but never in sufficient numbers to feed many people.
A partial solution to the lack of readily-available protein in inland areas of Buka may be the establishment of privately-run fish-farming using non-stunting tilapia, as has been demonstrated at Wakunai on Bougainville Island. However, such a development would require government input of large amounts of money and comprehensive training of villagers, currently beyond the government's capabilities.
A more practical solution would be the re-establishment of ice-making facilities at the Buka Town Market and possibly the development of a fishermen's centre at Tulein, on the west coast of Buka. Such a centre would service the needs of fishermen along the west coast, and Petats and Pororan Islands. To facilitate the transport of iced fish from the coast to inland areas of Buka, the badly neglected inland road system would need to be upgraded and regularly maintained.
Photo: A catch of tilapia fish, Buka Island