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“We can’t let them drown”

This morning, the light is bright and the air is cold. The sky, split by seagulls and seagulls arguing loudly, is a sparkling blue. On the pontoon, a handful of boats with white, blue or red hulls splash in the green water. The boxer The Shrimp is moored to the pontoon. Benoît prepares his net, the red rope, the one that floats at the top, the blue one, weighted with lead to go to the bottom, at the bottom.

Migrants? Of course he meets them at sea. “I work not far from the coast so I see them leaving, explains the fishing boss. As soon as the weather conditions are good, they set sail at daybreak. But today, that would surprise me because there is a strong onshore wind. In any case, we have seen less of them since the summer. » Less perhaps, but now, even in winter, attempts to cross the Channel no longer stop.

On the quay, in boots and a blue jacket, José Pinto scans the horizon. He waits for the return ofOpheliathe boat of his sons, fishermen like him. Now retired, he remembers that “We started seeing a lot of migrants over the last five or six years. Before they went through the tunnel, but the authorities barricaded everything, so they tried by boat.” In 2018, he recalls, “they even stole a gillnet, The Sparrowhawkwhich they brought to England.

From now on, migrant crossings are part of the daily life of fishermen. “My obsession, resumes Benoît, is not to see them at night. Because they are not enlightened. Normally, when they see us coming, they turn on their phone, but at the speed I'm going, it would be quick to hit one. »

“If they fall in the water, their minutes are numbered”

But above all, fishermen come across more and more boats in bad shape. “These are really poor quality inflatable boats, with a very fragile bottom, explains Gaëtan Delsart, the boss of Adèle-Camille. And then the smugglers pile up 50 or even 70 people on you. I've seen some that were so stuck together that they couldn't even pull the string to restart the launcher. » Passengers have already died from asphyxiation. But the most common danger is that the boat, too fragile, sinks. “If they fall, with water below 13°C, their minutes are numbered,” Gaëtan specifies.

When a boat in difficulty calls for help, the Regional Operational Surveillance and Rescue Center (Cross) at Cap Gris-Nez alerts the nearest boat, in accordance with maritime law, which requires all captains to provide assistance to any person in danger. at sea. “We are then asked to divert and check that the boat is floating, how many passengers there are, if people have life jackets…” explains Gaëtan.

If the boat is heading normally, the authorities allow it to continue, as a collision involves too much risk. But if he is in difficulty, they can ask the fisherman to intervene. “We obey what the Cross asks of us, continues Gaëtan. I once had to accompany a broken down boat for an hour until help arrived. » His brother, Jonathan, who sails on the Corentin-Lucashas also already had to watch over 12 exiled refugees on the back of their Zodiac, overturned by the passage of a cargo ship, until the rescuers arrive. “We lose an hour or two in the day, continues Gaëtan, but we cannot let human beings drown. And I have never heard a fisherman say: “Let them manage!” This one would have no interest in returning to port…”

Sometimes things go wrong. At the beginning of September, “the Cross sent us a “mayday”says Gaëtan Baillet, boss of The Breton. I was returning to the port, I got diverted. When I arrived, there was also my cousin, the boss of the Murex. Rescuers had already removed the survivors, but there were still bodies in the water. We grabbed the coats that were floating and pulled them up. My cousin called up a young girl with a cell phone tied around her neck, which kept ringing.” A painful experience. But the sailors declined the psychological help offered to them.

But sometimes fishermen save lives. Jonathan Delsart has experienced this several times. “In June, I was called to go find a guy who was all alone in the water, hanging on to a small buoy. He must have fallen from a boat and was unable to get back up. I don't know why, but when I fished him out, he was naked as a worm! My kid gave him his change of clothes. »

“I saw a father and his child fall into the water and sink 1 meter deep”

On the other hand, last September, the intervention was even more dangerous. “I was bringing up traps when I received the message that there were men overboard. I was ten minutes away. We arrived at the same time as the gendarmerie boat and a helicopter. » A Zodiac carrying 67 people is then deflating and folding in on itself. “There were people stuck in the middle with water up to their chests. When we arrived, there was panic. I saw a father and his child fall into the water and sink 1 meter deep, before coming back up. »

We must then act quickly. “The gendarmerie attacked from the front and me from behind. There we don't ask any questions: we throw lifejackets to those in the water, and we catch everyone we can, we collect the lifejackets and throw them back. » In fifteen minutes, Jonathan brings 27 migrants onto his 12-meter boat.

On board, the castaways finally relax. Jonathan places a 7-year-old kid in the captain's seat. And we chat a little thanks to Google Trad. “There was a Syrian who was on his second attempt. He explained to me that his life was so shitty that he would try again even if he died. These people want to leave. I don't know what could stop them, Jonathan believes. I especially blame the smugglers who take their money and put them on boats that cannot arrive. »

One question, however, torments him: “I understand that the police who intercept them on land confiscate the Zodiacs. But why do they take their life jackets? Or they give some to each boat that may need to intervene. The vest is survival! »

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A record number of deaths in 2024

In 2024, 35,338 migrants have already arrived in the UK by « small boats »according to an AFP count on December 18, against 29,437 in 2023 and 45,774 in 2022.

5,800 people were rescued at sea in 2024 and 871 crossing attempts were prevented by law enforcement, according to the Pas-de- prefecture. Between 2022 and 2024, “one in five migrants” failed in its crossing attempt, according to the maritime prefecture of the Channel and the North Sea.

At least 73 migrants died trying to cross the Channel in 2024, which becomes the deadliest year since the start of the phenomenon of crossings in makeshift boats, recorded since 2018. The previous record dated from 2021, with 31 deaths ( including 27 during the same shipwreck).

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