IMMIGRATION: FOREIGN FISHERMAN LIKELY "STATELESS"

Tanjungpinang, Riau, April 13 (ANTARA) - A foreign fisherman that the Indonesian authorities in Natuna island had arrested for illegal fishing might become stateless, an official said.

Lyce was caught while poaching in Indonesian waters by an Indonesian navy patrol in Natuna island waters recently, Head of the Tanjungpinang immigration detention center Surya Pranata said here Tuesday.

The 30-year-old fisherman told Indonesian immigration personnel and court authorities that he came from Thailand but he did not have official documents that could support his claim, he said.

The Thai embassy in Jakarta denied Lyce's claim so that the Tanjungpinang immigration authorities concluded that he might be a stateless person, Pranata said.

Due to his unclear citizenship status, the related authorities had difficulty in deporting Lyce though he had served his sentence here, he said.

For the time being, he was held in the detention center but the Tanjungpinang immigration had a limited budget for handling such cases, he said.

Asked about the 22 Vietnamese fishermen who had also been detained for illegal fishing, Pranata said they would immediately be deported after their trial.

"They will soon be deported to their country of origin," he said.

From January to March 2010, the Tanjungpinang immigration authorities had deported a dozen foreign fishermen from Riau Isles Province.

They included 15 Thais and 17 Vietnamese, and two Malaysians. They were all found guilty of illegally fishing in the Natuna Island waters, he said.

Pranata said the 16 Thais and a Laotian had also been deported on April 6, he added.

With trawlers, lots of foreign fishermen have been poaching in Indonesian waters for decades.

As a result, Indonesia suffers material loss of at least US$ 2,136 million a year.