The Decree of the Agriculture Minister No. 51, 1997 defines responsibilities for permitting
the deployment of fish aggregating devices (referring to both rumpons and lift nets). FADs
within three nautical miles from the shore are regulated by the district government. Devices
between three and 12 miles offshore are regulated by the province and deep water FADs by
the national Directorate of Fisheries.
6.7 Enforcement
Because of the immensity of the coastline, the national laws as well as provincial regulations are
often effectively unenforceable. Lack of enforcement is a major problem in Maluku with its multitude
of small islands. Fish and turtle traders exploiting endangered species or using prohibited gear
types bribe enforcement officials or operate in places where the patrol boats never go.
Enforcement is officially in the hands of the navy, which operate at a provincial level, and the
police, who have a “water police” section to deal with fisheries offences. However, the
boundaries of jurisdiction and responsibility are not clear to the staff in district offices, and
the level of awareness and concern of police to fisheries issues are minimal. Infrastructure
and funding are extremely limited and any action taken is reactive, not proactive. In theory,
the police can rely on the navy for assistance with infrastructure (e.g., speedboats) but in
practice, our interviewers were told that the agencies do not work together.
6.8 Communication and Collaboration Between Village and Higher Levels of
Management
Although there appears to be, at least in a de facto sense, a degree of co-management of marine
resources, in reality the government departments and village level institutions (village
government, sasi authorities) operate in isolation one from the another. Information may, in
some cases, trickle down from the national level to the village but there is no mechanism for
feedback from the village to the national level. National prohibitions against blast fishing
and the use of poisons are reasonably well known at the village level but other regulations,
including the identity of endangered and prohibited species and the boundaries of marine
parks and protected areas, are virtually unheard of.
Relationships among village, district and provincial levels are also not close when it comes to fisheries
issues. The Fisheries Agency has extension staff (three on Haruku, two on Saparua, and one on
Nusa Laut) whose job it is to convey information to the village level. However, they usually act in
response to a request rather than proactively. They do assist commercial operators to renew their
licenses but, in our interviews with artisanal fishers, we found that they are virtually invisible to this
sector. There has been an attempt by extension staff to influence fishers to stop using destructive
fishing gears but in their own estimation, this program has failed to make any difference. Instead,
they feel that providing gears and motors to groups of fishermen and promoting aquaculture are the
ways to effect change. Their ability to deliver such assistance is, however, very limited. This extension
service is short of funds and finds it difficult even to cover transportation costs for field visits.
According to our respondents, village governments and, in particular, the village heads (kepala
desas) have, in theory, a legal role in most management functions (Appendix 5). In many
cases, however, they lack the means, time and motivation to attempt management at the local
level. In a political climate of “top-down” decision-making, many local leaders are also
reluctant to be proactive, preferring to act only when directed by a higher authority. In the
64 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia