Sawen is a traditional resource management institution that originally integrated the management of forests, the sea and farmland using cognitive aspects (local knowledge and resource management principles), regulatory aspects (codes of conduct) and normative aspects (world views and belief systems). Sawen in North Lombok, Indonesia, was almost eradicated early in the Suharto regime, following an alleged coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party in the mid-1960s. The Indonesian reform movement of 1998 brought empowerment to many local communities in the archipelago and made it possible to attempt to revitalize sawen for fisheries management in North Lombok. The initiative came from the community and is compatible with the current government recent reform agenda in devolving power to local authority. This chapter analyses the cause and effect of the cessation of sawen practices in marine resource management, and the recent attempt to revitalize it in Kayangan, a small coastal community in North Lombok. Preliminary findings suggest that revitalized sawen for marine resources was able to assist the local community in addressing issues of overexploitation, access rights and lack of enforcement of fishing regulations in their nearshore waters. More importantly, the revitalization of sawen has:
• restored the marine cultural identity of the community, which had ceased to exist over the three decades of the Suharto regime
• provided a ‘protection institution’ for small-scale fishers
• provided insights (local knowledge and wisdom) for implementation of local fisheries management
• created a legitimate institution of community-based fisheries management in the study area.