The number of Africans who illegally reached the coast of Spain last year was half that of 2008. Spain's interior minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, said that just over 7300 Africans managed to sail to Spain in small boats in 2009.
In the Canary Islands, a popular destination for migrants from nearby West Africa, the number of illegal arrivals fell by 75 percent. For four months, not one boat landed on the islands' shores.
Mr Rubalcaba attributes the decline in numbers to the economic crisis, increased patrols off the Spanish coasts, and more cooperation between Spain and the authorities of several West African countries.
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