time for fishing. Modern lights are brighter than the older kerosene lamps, allowing the
wealthier light fishers to continue operating throughout the month. Artisanal fishers believe
that this change contributes to stock depletion. Fishers interviewed also sketched out monthly
calendars that suggest that there are monthly cycles in tides and waves that affect catches.
Artisanal fishers use this traditional knowledge to plan their work schedules.
Because weather has such a strong influence on catches, fish traders in smaller centers
sometimes use sea conditions as a guide for predicting prices in the central markets. If the
sea is calm and oily, fish are likely to be scarce and the price high. When the tide is very high
(hitting the foundation of houses along the shore), i.e., at full moon, prices for pelagic fish are
very high. If there are (moderate) wind and waves, fish are usually more abundant and prices
low (Cali Kiat, fish trader at Tulehu, pers. comm. February 1998).
3.7 Control over the Commercial Fishery
Although there is a small minority of commercial gears in the hands of village fishers, the
majority of capital-intensive gears, i.e., lift nets, FADs, pole and line vessels, long liners and
seiners, are in the hands of urban businessmen and large companies. For example, the fish
processing company, P.T. Sumber Aneka Tata Bahari, owns a fleet of 12 pole and line boats
and three long liners, as well as five deep-sea FADs. They export 250-700 tonnes of fish a
month (M. Siahay, boat captain, pers. comm. 1998). Owners of these industrial enterprises are
rarely native Mollucans. Most are urban Chinese Indonesians, some are from the western
islands of Sulawesi or Java, and a few are foreign (e.g., Filipino, Japanese etc.). More
information on large-scale fisheries and market structures can be found in Chapter 5.
3.8 Conclusions
The marine resources of central Maluku are very rich but not unlimited. Coral reefs, for
example, are under severe pressure, particularly from destructive fishing techniques employed
by both commercial and artisanal fishers. After a period of rapid increase in fishing pressure
and catches, even the optimistic government resource assessments now indicate a need for
more cautious management because several key stocks appear to be over-fished and harvest
potential is declining. Nevertheless, economic pressures mean that there is still a strong push
for further expansion of fisheries.
Sasi, the local resource management institution, has a long history. The application of sasi to
marine resources, however, has always been limited in scope and some modern forms of
marine management date back only a few decades. As an institution, sasi has never been
static but has changed with the times and been used by different proponents for different
economic and social reasons, not simply for resource management. Sasi and the underlying
adat culture have waxed and waned over time, absorbing and reflecting the impacts of
colonialism, war, economic development and social change. However, despite past predictions
of imminent demise, sasi and adat persist and are, therefore, resilient. In the following chapters,
we will explore how these regional contextual factors, as well as local conditions, influence
present-day fisheries management at the village level.
36 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia