Section A - Introduction and Methodology
Chapter 1
Introduction
1.1 Project Overview and Objectives
With funding from the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), a five-year
collaborative research project involving the International Center for Living Aquatic Resources
Management (ICLARM), Philippines, the Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) at the North
Sea Center, Denmark, and the National Aquatic Research Systems (NARS), was initiated in
1994. The collaboration between ICLARM, IFM and NARS is based on a mutual interest to
gain practical experience in research in fisheries co-management, to demonstrate its
applicability as a sustainable, equitable and efficient management strategy, and to develop
models for use and adoption by governments, fishing communities, non-governmental
organizations (NGOs) and others. The overall purpose of the Fisheries Co-management
Research Project is to determine the prospects for successful implementation of fisheries co-
management strategies.
As part of the Fisheries Co-management Research Project, ICLARM staff, with funding
assistance from IDRC (the International Development Research Centre of Canada) and the
Netherlands government (NEDA) have collaborated with researchers in Indonesia to study
the community-based institution called sasi in the province of Maluku (Figure 1). Although
this project focuses on a long-standing institution rather than a time-limited project, the overall
objective is the same as for other projects, that is, to evaluate community level management
in order to develop better models for the future (Pomeroy and Simanjuntak 1997).
Sasi encompasses fishery-related rights and rules, and is, therefore, commonly referred to as
a traditional resource management institution, even though it also has other functions and its
focus has changed through time (Zerner 1994a). As a village level, community-based resource
management (CBRM) system, sasi varies from locality to locality while maintaining the same
intention of managing resource utilization. While land sasi controls and manages agro-forestry,
marine sasi deals mostly with elements of the fishery, i.e., sedentary marine organisms and
pelagic fish found in the waters close to shore. Sasi regulations usually apply to coastal waters
facing a village, a bay, a coral reef ecosystem, or other areas having easily recognized
boundaries. In some parts of Maluku, sasi regulates estuary fisheries.
The government of Maluku realizes that in some parts of the province, village people are
more likely to comply with this traditional management system than with formal (national or
provincial) regulations. However, while in some areas of Maluku, sasi is still functioning, in
others, sasi is said to be growing weaker or has disappeared entirely. As has been pointed out
by Zerner (1994b), the current extent of sasi, and how quickly, where and why weakening of
the institution is taking place, are not clear. To allow discussion of the future of sasi, we need
to first understand its current condition, rate of change, and the forces behind that change.
Zerner (1994b) also identified the need for an objective evaluation of sasi, especially in terms
of biological sustainability and social equity. In his view, the institution has historically served
to protect the interests of elites. Recent re-invention of the sasi institution has, he argues,
Introduction 1