that are distant from the urban center of Ambon. In no case is management under sasi
comprehensive; only small areas of shallow waters and few species are regulated.
Nevertheless, the existence of sasi means that certain important management concepts are
widely known and valued as part of local culture. From this, we can see that using sasi as the
basis for development of a modern management institution can be considered to be efficient
because, through sasi, these core concepts are generally known and seen to be legitimate.
This reduces potential costs of public education and enforcement.
The promulgation of fisheries rules at the village level has clearly been influenced significantly
by the sasi institution. Active marine sasi villages have the most rules in practice, but other
villages where marine sasi has been lost or where some other form of sasi (land, village) persists
are also more active in managing local marine resources than non-sasi villages.
80 An Institutional Analysis of Sasi Laut in Maluku, Indonesia