In late August, Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez visited Mauritania and The Gambia to sign cooperation agreements to crack down on people smugglers while expanding legal means of immigration.
As of August 15, 22,304 migrants have reached the Canaries since the start of the year, up from 9,864 in the same period the previous year.
Almost 40,000 migrants entered the Canaries in 2023, a record on course to be broken this year, as easier navigation conditions from September tend to lead to a spike in crossing attempts.
The Atlantic route is particularly deadly, with many of the crowded and poorly equipped boats unable to cope with the strong ocean currents. Some boats set off from African beaches as far as 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from the Canaries.
The International Organization for Migration, a UN agency, estimates that 4,857 people have died on this route since 2014.
Many aid organisations say that is a massive underestimate. Caminando Fronteras, a Spanish NGO that aids migrants, says 18,680 have died trying to reach Europe.
