Most rural communities rely on their rich natural resource base for basic requirements such as food and their overall livelihood. While many are better off with access to what their natural resources could provide, others are not so fortunate, particularly islands and atoll communities. One such community is the Goru community, a small island community among the Vitu chain of islands – to be precise on small Vitu in the Bali-Vitu LLG, Talasia district, West New Britain province. Goru community basically has no land to cultivate and is worse off compared to the bigger islands on small and big Vitu. Presented with this scenario, the community has developed and looked at every option available to put food on the table every day, including growing food crops elsewhere on the bigger parts of the Vitu chain of islands. The sea also provides a lot of options, including fish and other marine products. One thing to take note of and possibly look at ways to improve on is the use of seaweeds. Various types of seaweed are used for food in many coastal communities and would be looked into further in our efforts to building resilient communities. Our team on a recent visit to Goru had coconut, fish, and sea grapes (as in the picture) for lunch. This seaweed is one of the popular sea grapes (Caulerpa lentillifera) used on the Bali and Vitu islands.
