ABSTRACT

This chapter begins with a review of Frontex’s first sea operation, which, according to Frontex, served as ‘the foundation of all [subsequent] joint sea operations’.1 Joint operation Hera, begun in 2006 in the Canary Islands, was also the first time that Frontex coordinated a joint operation with non-EU member states.2 Hera was deployed soon after the creation of Frontex, and the experience acquired during Hera influenced the agency as it planned subsequent border control operations and programmes, including the creation of the European Patrols Network in 2007, and the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in 2013.3 The lessons learned from Hera are likely to continue to have influence as Frontex and the European Union deploy maritime border control operations in the Central and Eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, in response to shifting migration flown.