Operation of the Italian Navy and Coast Guard for the rescue of refugees
Operation Mare Nostrum was a year-long naval and air operation commenced by theItalian government on 18 October 2013,[1] which rescued at least 150,000 migrants on the dangerous Mediterranean sea crossing.[2] The operation ended on 31 October 2014,[3] and was superseded byFrontex'sOperation Triton.
Fenice is one of the eight corvettes ofMinerva class with the role of surveillance of fisheries; from November 2013 it took part in the Operation Mare Nostrum rescuing the boats of irregular migrants coming fromNorth Africa.
The operation'ssearch and rescue component is claimed by advocacy groups like theEuropean Council on Refugees and Exiles to have saved thousands of lives, but the operation was politically unpopular and extremely costly for just oneEU state.[6] The Italian government requested support from the other EU member states, but the request was declined.[7]
The operation ended on 31 October 2014[8] and was superseded byFrontex'sOperation Triton, which operated a smaller search and rescue capability. Unlike Mare Nostrum, Operation Triton focused on border protection rather than search and rescue, and operated closer to the Italian coast.[5] The termination of Mare Nostrum has been criticized as contributing to the increased death rate among migrants headed for Europe in the Mediterranean, which increased tenfold in 2015 compared to migrant fatalities in the Mediterranean in 2014.[9] Two majormigrant shipwreck disasters which together killed more than 1,000 people within the span of a week in April 2015 led to calls to renew the operation.[10][5][11]
coastal radar network and automatic identification system shore stations.[1]
The air units involved helicopters, one MM P180 aircraft equipped withFLIR, twoCamcopter S-100 unmanned aerial vehicles on board the shipSan Giusto and two maritime patrol aircraft.[1] There was also one forward logistic site on Italy'sLampedusa island for logistics support.[1] According to Italian Interior MinisterAngelino Alfano, the government spent about €114 million ($142 million) on Operation Mare Nostrum.[8]
Slovenia was the sole external contributor to the operation.[12] It provided its patrol vesselTriglav, which assisted in general surveillance of the waters surrounding Lampedusa from 15 December 2013 to the end of January the following year.[13]
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