Chapter 14
Dusun Seri, Desa Urimesing, Ambon Island1
14.1 Physical, Biological and Technical Attributes
14.1.1 Physical environment
Seri is situated on Ambon Island and functions as a dusun, an administrative section under
the authority of the Urimesing desa2 (a higher administrative level). Urimesing has four dusuns
all of which are geographically separate villages: Seri, Kusu-kusu, Mahia, and Tuni. In the
past, Seri was the governmental capital because it was the residence of the royal raja clan, the
Wattimena family. At a certain point in time, it was decided by a new village head to make
Kusu-kusu the seat of government for the desa of Urimesing.
Seri covers the areas called Kudamati, Karang Tagepe and Siwang. With 16 km2 (or 1600 ha)
of land area, Seri is the largest dusun in Urimesing (total land surface of 62.5 km2). The village
area is delineated by the city of Ambon in the north, dusun Mahia in the east, dusun Airlow in
the west and the Banda Sea in the south (see Figure 14.1).
Figure 14.1. Sketch village map of Seri (features not
necessarily to scale).
Seri has spacious agriculture land with fertile soils, fresh water sources and potential fish
resources. An upwelling in the Banda Sea right off the coast of Seri attracts pelagic fish and
makes the fishery highly productive.
1 Data tables for the case study villages can be found in Appendix 3.
2 Dusun Seri will be referred to in English as a village.
178 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia