By: Dwi Cahyo Josohadisubroto 

Koon Waters, located in Pulau Gorom District, East Seram Regency, Maluku Province, is one of the areas that have been designated as a waters conservation area by the Regional Government of East Seram Regency with an area of 8,161.8 ha through a Regent's Decree East Seram No. 523/189/KEP/2011 was then re-backed through Decree of the Governor of Maluku no. 75.a of 2018 with a revision of the area to 9,901 Ha which is managed as a Coastal and Small Islands Conservation Area (KKP3).

This area is a very important area for spawning reef fish, especially the Kertang Grouper (Epinephelus lanceolatus), Sunu Grouper (Plectropomus areolatus), Red Snapper (Lutjanus bohar em>), as well as other economically important fish.

To support monitoring of KKP3K on Koon Island and its surrounding waters, the Wanu Atalo'a Customary Institution (Leawana) formed an indigenous people-based surveillance team called the Leawana Troop in July 2018. The aim is to protect the sovereignty of the Kataloka Customary Petuanan from outside interference and to oversee the course of the Kataloka customary government. One of them is to protect fish spawning locations in Koon waters from fishing and destructive activities.

Starting 2019 (5/1), the Leawana Troops were asked by the Viceroy of Kataloka, Raja Anshar Zulkarnaen Rumarey Wattimena (Jou Anshar) to patrol Koon waters. The Leawana troops who carried out the patrol consisted of 3 people including Ali Gimalaha, as the commander of the Leawana Troops, Kadir Rumalean and Irwan. 

The troop moved from Gorom Island to Koon Island, then decided to spend the night on Koon because they received a report from Mr. Imam that fishing activities in the KKP3K Koon core zone, “Fish Market” were carried out in the morning. The next day, at 4 am Leawana Troops started patrol activities and found 7 katinting fleets conducting fishing activities in the core zone. 

It was recorded that there were 8 fishermen carrying out fishing activities in the core zone with basic fishing gear. The information they got was that the target catch was live grouper which they planned to sell at Pulau Mas Keramba in Kidan.

One of the fishermen rebelled when he learned that the Leawana Troops were taking a video capture. To avoid a commotion, finally Ali Gimalaha decided to delete the video, but still reported it to Raja Kataloka.

After this incident, Viceroy Mohammad Saiful Rumarey Wattimena (Jou Mo) issued a customary summons to groups of fishermen who made arrests in Koon Waters. The fishermen confronted Raja Kataloka and confessed to their actions and promised not to make any more arrests at the Fish Market.

The fishermen complain that there are still fishermen outside Grogos Island who carry out fishing activities in Koon Waters, including fishermen from Petuanan Ondor and Rumeon Hamlet but there has been no firm action by the Kataloka Adat. Thus, the King promised to take firm action and provide customary sanctions for anyone who is still carrying out fishing activities in Kataloka.

“There needs to be collaboration from the local government in protecting Koon. This Koon is a treasure for the people of Kataloka and also Maluku because Koon is one of the largest fish spawning locations in Maluku," said Viceroy Anshar R. Wattimena.

WWF-Indonesia as the implementing partner of the USAID Sustainable Ecosystems Advanced (USAID SEA) Project will support the protection of the Koon waters area with several strategies, namely: 1. Increasing the capacity of patrols who are members of the Leawana Troop; 2. Encouraging local governments to support patrol activities in the Koon waters area, as well as; 3. Encouraging legitimacy at the provincial level for the Leawana Troops.