Sunny weather and hot air filled the sky of Petuanan Adat Kataloka that day. A group of well-built young men were seen enthusiastically watching someone speak in a classroom that was arranged in such a way as to become a meeting room. There were a few chuckles from some people who were greeted with laughter throughout the room, making the atmosphere in the room liquid even though they were following a serious event.

The group of young people is the Community Supervisory Group (Pokmaswas) who are attending basic training on the ways of monitoring the water area in Kataloka Village, Gorom Island District, East Seram. The activity was facilitated by WWF-Indonesia as the implementing partner of the USAID Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (USAID SEA) Project, and supported by the Directorate General of Marine and Fisheries Data Source Supervision (PSDKP) Ambon Station, Coastal and Marine Resources Management Workshop (PSPL) Sorong Ambon Satker, Ambon Police, East Seram Regency Fisheries Service, and the Supervision Division of the Marine and Fisheries Service and the Maluku Province Island Cluster IV Branch Office.

The training was given to 30 Pokmaswas members from Leawana and Tanjung Keter Troops who have obtained a legal umbrella from the Maluku Province Marine and Fisheries Service (DKP) through the Decree of the Head of the Maluku Province DKP Office No: 061/617/19k and No: 061/616/19k on the Establishment of Pokmaswas in Kataloka Village. The training material focused on the supervision scheme of Pokmaswas, starting from determining the objectives, preparation before conducting supervision, to how Pokmaswas acts when finding violations. In addition, the Pokmaswas were also provided with information on the types of violations of marine and fisheries resources and various types of endangered and protected marine species.

"Katong su knew for a long time, Mr. Jou closed the Koon waters to be protected and told katong to take care of it, but only found out from you that the Koon Waters are a fish bank (We have known for a long time, Mr. King closed the Koon waters to be protected, but only found out from you all if the Koon Waters have a function as a fish bank)" said Syamsudin Rumakat who is familiarly called Imam, one of the members of Pasukan Leawana, after the conservation game session with the theme of sustainable fisheries was completed.

Imam himself is known as one of the most critical fishermen from Grogos Island. In the past, when the "Ngam" or the rule not to carry out extractive activities in the core zone was issued by King Kataloka, Imam was the loudest in refusing. This is because Koon Waters is a source of fish for fishermen on Grogos Island, in addition to its proximity, there are indeed a lot of pelagic and demersal fish such as snappers and groupers which are the target of Grogos Island fishermen. However, after socialization and discussion to provide an understanding of the function of the core zone, Imam became the most diligent person to voice conservation and did not hesitate to reprimand people who still violated the rules for fishing activities in the core zone.

Nowadays, Pokmaswas like Imam and Kataloka Village are not fighting alone in protecting Koon Waters from destructive fishing activities. Partners such as Ambon Police, PSDKP, Loka PSPL, Maluku Provincial Maritime and Fisheries Office will assist in the monitoring process in Koon Waters as a form of commitment in maintaining the Koon waters conservation area to be able to provide good benefits for the children and grandchildren of the people of East Seram. After the training, WWF-Indonesia will provide assistance to Pokmaswas in early 2020 for logbook filling, reporting violating activities until Pokmaswas can run the scheme independently. Not only from WWF-Indonesia, village officials also took part as one of the supporters in the effort to strengthen Pokmaswas in monitoring Koon waters. One form of support is by seeking the provision of monitoring tools by utilizing village funds.