An institutional analysis of sasi laut in Maluku, Indonesia

The use of sanctions varies with the type of sasi (Table 7.11). Where a village has church sasi
only and no adat sasi, physical or financial sanctions are rare (9% of cases). This is the typical
scenario in small (size Class 1) villages. In church sasi, participants make a common commitment
through prayer to obey the sasi rules; it is God who punishes offenders. If there is a kewang, the
members often support the system by patrolling areas under sasi and may or may not impose
fines or other punishments. Where adat is still strong, or where the village government controls
sasi, the role of the church is to provide support through prayers at sasi ceremonies.

Table 7.11. Occurrence of ceremonies, written rules, and sanctions in different forms of sasi.

Traditionally, the opening and closing of harvest times and places under sasi are accompanied
by adat ceremonies. In modern times, the ceremony may be restricted to a prayer. More
elaborate adat ceremonies still take place in villages such as Haruku and Nolloth but fewer
than 100 people attend in the majority (75%) of cases. Roughly a third of sasi villages carry
out ceremonies regardless of their size, island or religion (Table 7.10). Ceremonies are most
common in villages having both adat sasi and church sasi but uncommon where church sasi
is alone (Table 7.11).

7.4.2 Occurrence of marine management rules in sasi and non-sasi villages

During the inventory, both sasi and non-sasi rules pertaining to the fishery were catalogued.
Fisheries rules do occur outside of the sasi institution, both in sasi and non-sasi villages
(Appendix 7). Where gear restrictions, access restrictions, and sale of harvest or access rights
occur outside of the sasi institution, the rules are developed and enforced by the village
government.

The national ban on blast fishing and use of poisons is supported either formally (i.e., written
as a legal village or sasi regulation) or informally (by verbal decree of the village leader), in a
majority of villages (Table 7.12). Support for this rule in sasi villages is particularly strong.
Regardless of the type of rule considered, the occurrence is highest in marine sasi villages and
is also relatively high in villages that have sasi only on land or in the village. Even villages
which have lost marine sasi have, on an average, a much higher prevalence of fisheries rules
and hence, a significantly higher compound management score when compared with non-
sasi villages (see Section 2.2.3 for method of determining management score).

Overall, the average marine management score for central Maluku is low because some villages
have few or no rules affecting the fishery. Also, because sasi is applied to relatively small
areas and few species, there is no comprehensive area or species management in place
anywhere.

76 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia

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