Over 1,700 Migrants Attempt Channel Crossing in Small Boats Last Week

The English Channel has documented the number of attempts in a week by unauthorized small boats. The data reveal that 1,752 migrants tried to cross the perilous route from 4 November – 10 November. The largest number of border crossers, 572 people, attempted to wade across the border on the 9th of November in 9 boats. These said favourable statistics showed that UK authorities are still not doing enough to address such unauthorized maritime incursions.

Crossing patterns and the vessel types

The daily statistics were also relatively unpredictable up to the week with the number of migrants recorded ranging from 133 to 572. For this alone, records indicated that RHIBs, dinghies, and other boats prevailed in the crossings with no uncontrolled landing described for the year. The data collection system is targeted at small boats, that is, it does not take into account yachts, fishing vessels and similar large ones.

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Maritime authorities remained on alert throughout the week and were also able to effect prevention of all the observed crossing attempts. It is however civilised and reportative of trends in migration as authorities acknowledge that some crossings might be missed out or those who were prohibited from leaving French coasts are not included.

The techniques involved in data collection and data reporting.

The scenario that the UK government’s monitoring system covers includes both detected arrivals and mid-channel interception by authorities. The results are still to be considered as provisional operational figures, while more refined figures are available from the quarterly Irregular Migration statistical release.

The methodology of data collection also does not include the arrival of large vessels and surreptitious ones; pertains only to small boats. This approach assists the authorities keep records of this specific migration route even though it only captures a small fraction of irregular migration into the UK.