The UK's maritime rescue services are being warned to expect migrant boat crossings over a much wider stretch of southern coastline in the year ahead, GB News can reveal.
It follows a move by people smuggling gangs to launch small boats further south on the French coast to avoid police patrols around Calais and Dunkirk.
The former head of the lifeboat station near Boulogne said his crews had seen a "huge increase" in the number of call-outs to Channel migrants in difficulties over the past year.
Guy Lardé, who is still involved with the Breck lifeboat, said crews were only involved in a handful of migrant rescues until late in 2021, when activity increased significantly.
The number of rescues shot up to more than 20 separate incidents last year
Guy Lardé
Last year, the number of rescues shot up to more than 20 separate incidents.
The Breck lifeboat station is located around 60 miles south of the main migrant boat launch sites around Dunkirk and Calais.
The more northerly beaches provide the shortest route across the Channel to the Kent coast.
But for the people smugglers, increased police activity around those beaches has made their regular launch points more difficult to operate from.
French authorities are also busy erecting many miles of extra security fencing along the Dunkirk and Calais coastlines.
Criminal gangs are heading further south in a bid to avoid security
Guy Lardé
That increase in security is driving the criminal gangs much further south.
While small boats have occasionally launched further south, the beaches near Boulogne have recently seen a significant spike in migrant activity.
With a beach even further south, near the settlement of Fort Mahon also regularly being used.
Monsieur Lardé said: “The numbers have been rising. At the end of 2021, we were involved In an increasing number of migrant rescues, and that rose again, very significantly in 2022.”
The lifeboat man said migrants were putting themselves at far greater risk by making longer boat crossings further down the coast.
"The further they have to travel by boat, the higher the risks.
Guy Lardé
"Traveling from down the coast brings extra dangers. Being in the water for much longer brings the danger of hypothermia and even being hit by big ships."
For maritime patrols in UK waters, it means a far greater likelihood that small boats will begin showing up on a much longer stretch of UK coastline in the months ahead.
It will inevitably mean that British rescue services across a wider area are called out more regularly to boats that have been in the water for many hours.
Maritime Search and Rescue expert Matthew Schenk said: "When the migrants are going from different locations compared to the usual routes, they are massively increasing their exposure to the elements.
"And we know already that these boats are unseaworthy.
"The standard of construction and overcrowding, the lack of proper equipment and lack of understanding of being in one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, all combine to make this a recipe for disaster."
So if they've gone further south, the distance they have to cross at sea is a lot further than they would have done in the Dover Strait.
"And by being further south, they're more exposed to the prevailing conditions. Southwesterly winds and everything else. So this just massively heightens the risks that the people are going to be exposed to."
With predictions that up to 80,000 people could attempt to cross the English Channel in the year ahead, authorities on both sides are preparing for their most challenging year since the migrant crisis began.
