Coastal people live in big villages, with houses well above the ground on poles. Sago, fish, and coconuts are their main foods. Many also grow taro and bananas. In delta and swamp areas with little garden land, people live on crabs. Mounds of burrowing crabs are used for small gardens.
Sweet potatoes are the main food of Gulf's mountain people.
The coastal people make masks by covering basketry with bark cloth and painting it with faces of bush or sea spirits. Most coastal people also carve ancestor boards with simple outlines of human figures. The departure of men looking for work has left Gulf with PNG's lowest median age and one of its highest percentages of females. 39.6 per cent of Gulf's students attend church-run schools.