Once provided with a defined legal mandate, villages could formally delegate management
duties to a local sasi institution and kewang. The perpetuation of sasi (as opposed to the
introduction of a totally new institution) would be an asset in that compliance would be
encouraged. Participation of religious leaders would also be an asset. With a local institution
involving respected traditional and religious leaders, resource users would feel secure. Some
mechanism to encourage participation of all stakeholders would have to be developed so
that control would not rest entirely in the hands of local elites, as this is unlikely to be acceptable
to new generations of Mollucans. The management of inshore resources would be even more
effective if local institutions were involved not only in local monitoring and enforcement but
also as partners in development planning and implementation, stock assessment and
allocation, licensing etc. This would lead to a situation in which inshore marine resources
were managed under a system of co-management.
18.6.3 Strengths of sasi
Basic management concepts
Although taking many forms, the sasi institution does typically involve concepts and structures
that are important in any management regime, including many that have positive implications
for conservation. This accepted set of norms provides an efficient base for the development
of a modernized co-management system. Concepts and activities central to sasi include:
1. The concept of open and closed areas/open and closed seasons.
2. The concept of community tenure rights over a marine area.
3. The concept of limiting access to resources.
4. Controlled harvest and distribution of benefits.
5. Locally developed and agreed-upon regulations. These may be specific to the village,
(limitation of gear types, size of fish or shellfish harvestable) or may reinforce national
laws (prohibition of blast fishing, poisons).
6. Local wardens or enforcers (the kewang) who have defined rules of process as well as
prescribed sanctions to impose.
7. A responsibility shared by all residents to report violations of sasi rules.
8. Methods in place for advising all residents at regular intervals of the substance of sasi
rules.
9. An overall goal of improving or maintaining community welfare which, being rooted
in adat or the concept of the unity of man with nature, is consistent with modern
concepts of sustainable use.
10. A hierarchical institutional structure wherein various tasks are divided among clearly
defined bodies (i.e., the village government, kewang besar, marine kewang, land kewang,
a kewang for land dispute settlement, etc.)
11. Low or no financial cost to the formal government i.e., kewang members and church
leaders involved are not paid, and local government offices may, in fact, receive income
from the controlled harvest and sale of communal resources.
12. Resiliency and the ability to evolve.
Efficiency and legitimacy
Sasi based on adat provides an efficient base on which to build co-management because
important management concepts are already in the minds of the people and have cultural
validity. Also, there are demonstrable social and environmental benefits to sasi as a local
management institution, and a clearly identified need to reinforce inadequate centralized
management.
Overall Discussion and Conclusions 275