Defying Davy Jones: The Impact of Maritime Search and Rescue Operations on Irregular Migration in the Central Mediterranean

Davy Jones’ Locker is well known in legend as being the resting place for those lost at sea, but even more noteworthy is the longstanding tendency of seafarers to defy Davy Jones and seek to rescue those in distress. Rescuing migrants at sea is fraught with controversy, which is especially evident in the ongoing issue of migration in the Mediterranean. So problematic did the issue of migrant deaths in the Mediterranean become, that search and rescue (SAR) operations were organised to address the crisis. This came with its own political backlash, with SAR operations being criticised by states as creating an incentive for migration. Such research is especially critical for Ireland in the deployment of Irish naval forces to conduct SAR in the Central Mediterranean and the importance of an informed analysis to determine such a vital aspect of contemporary European security and humanitarianism. This article studies maritime SAR operations in an attempt to deduce whether they incentivise irregular sea migration in the Central Mediterranean Route. Utilising numbers of migrant arrivals and deaths, contrasted with the nature of various SAR operations against which the migration occurred, this article demonstrates that there is no correlation between migrant numbers and proactive SAR operations. This article aims to provide clarification on the controversial subject of maritime SAR and demonstrate that conducting such operations does not lead to an increase in irregular migration.