A remnant of sasi that apparently is still practiced by a few people is sasi on coconuts. It is an
individual kind of sasi arranged by the church (sasi gereja). A person can ask the minister to
pray for and announce sasi on his coconut garden. After a 3-6 month sasi period, the church is
asked to pray for the opening of sasi. The owner and his family can then harvest the coconuts
for one or two weeks (depending on the owner’s needs) before the garden is closed again.
If a person has several gardens with fruit trees, i.e., coconuts, duku (lansium fruit), nutmegs
and langsat, he can ask to have sasi on one or more gardens. This allows the owner to harvest
fruits from non-sasi gardens for his daily needs while protecting the other gardens from damage
and theft.
14.4.1 Fisheries regulations
On the local level, there is support for the national prohibition on blast fishing and use of
poisons, i.e., the dusun head is prepared to enforce the rules, but, as he explained, there is no
problem with non-compliance. The official permits that outsiders need to use their nets, boats
and lift nets are issued from a higher level of the government.
Some local informal rules are applied on the commercial fishery. Net fishers are required to
have a permit from the Fishery Agency. Lift net operators also have to pay contributions to
the village and are obliged to hire local labor. The fees can be up to Rp100,000/year (USD43,
1996 exchange rate). Outsiders and owners of fishing vessels also have to pay the dusun for
the rights to harvest marine products such as top shells, sea cucumbers and shrimp. They pay
Rp25,000-Rp50,000 for the right to fish. Since the village has formally no right to ask for a fee,
the contributions are “voluntary”, but if not paid, the boat owner runs the risk of his gears
being destroyed.
The fishery as well as fish trading is open to everyone and there are no formal regulations on
access for locals. Minimal access rules placed on outsiders are meant to collect revenues not
limit access. There are no rules governing the landing of fish. Most local rules deal with division
of catch, labor, or marketing. They are informal and are commonly agreed upon, and as stated
earlier, based on reciprocity.
14.4.2 The players
There are no direct players in fisheries management in Seri. A kewang or comparable
enforcement institution is not present. Neither the village head of Urimesing nor the LMD is
involved in management or rule enforcement. The dusun head of Seri plays a distant role in
managing the payments from, and placement of, lift nets.
The Department of Fisheries and the Department of Transport play no role in fisheries
management apart from the issuing of permits. They receive taxes, but do not provide any
facilities for landing, storing and trading fish.
Seri’s fisheries are for a large part governed by market mechanisms, relationships among the
owners of commercial gears and their crew, and interactions of artisanal fishers and traders
at the market place. Small-scale fishers sell their catches through their wives or other relatives.
These women (small-scale traders) deal with auctioneers and wholesalers. All these relations
are based on trust and mutual dependency.
186 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia