In some villages, modern innovations intermingle with tradition. For instance, there are
villages where kewang members are chosen on the basis of residence in recently invented
administrative units instead of on the basis of clan affiliation (Lokollo et al. 1996). Also,
because of the central role of the village head (kepala desa) in modern sasi, rules for selection of
the village head must also be listed as collective-choice rules for sasi as an institution. Closer
to the operational end are the rules which state when and how often the kewang will meet,
how decisions regarding the opening and closing of sasi will be made, and how sasi rules can
be reviewed and revised or new rules adopted. The smaller the village, the less formalized
the structure. In a small village having only church sasi on coconuts and no kewang, there
may be no written collective-choice rules but there are persons with authority to call meetings
etc. as they see fit.
A basic principle involved in the resource management aspect of sasi is one of closed and
open seasons. Areas of land and sea, particular crops or marine species are placed under a
harvest prohibition for varying lengths of time (Ellen 1978; Kriekhoff 1991; Bailey and Zerner
1992). While “under sasi”, these areas or resources may not be harvested without the express
permission of the kewang and the village head. The kewang does grant exemptions, usually in
cases of dire economic need or to provide resources to support a local cultural or religious
celebration. How and when exemptions may be granted is another example of a collective-
choice rule.
Resource exploitation rights in the village territory are based on residency status and clan,
which is an example of an unwritten collective-choice rule. In some cases, the village
government, either alone or with the kewang, defines rights of access and withdrawal that
may be purchased by payment to the village government. This form of sasi (sasi lelang) has a
long history of application to land resources but may be a relatively recent innovation (i.e., in
the past 20-40 years) in terms of controlling marine resources (Zerner and Thorburn,
forthcoming). Collective-choice rules concerning sale of harvest rights are usually written
down. Time-limited access and withdrawal rights are either sold for a set price or auctioned.
The sale or auction may be open only to residents or also to outsiders. Funds raised go into
village government coffers (e.g., Pelauw, Kabauw, Nolloth, and the Itawaka village) and may
be shared with the kewang, church and/or mosque. The degree of accountability and
transparency surrounding the deal and the level of benefits distributed among community
members is highly dependent on the character of one key figure: the village head.
18.3.3 Operational rules
The operational rules of marine sasi specifically regulate day-to-day activities in the marine
village territory and/or that part of the village territory designated as the sasi area. The
timing of the imposition and removal of the harvest prohibition are operational rules that
may be determined by the village head alone, especially in cases where resource rights are
sold to provide money for village administration. In other cases, other village leaders (kepala
kewang, tuan negeri, church leaders and representatives of other village institutions) take part.
Areas under sasi may be marked using physical markers such as wooden stakes crowned
with coconut leaves and driven into the sea bed to demarcate a fishing area. The other common
way of advertising the imposition of operational rules is the public pronouncement of rules
during ceremonies to open and close sasi. Nowadays, in many cases where rules are rather
elaborate and have been modernized, they are written down. Operational rules define, for
example, the boundaries of the sasi area and species under protection, the type of fishing
gears that are prohibited, prohibitions on cutting trees on the river bank etc. These operational
rules may be indigenous to the community or borrowed. An example of a rule borrowed
262 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia