By Pascal Fletcher
DAKAR, May 17 (Reuters) - Blessed by local Muslim holy men and ferried by Senegalese fishermen, hundreds of illegal migrants are once again pushing off daily from West Africa's shores in a renewed sea-borne assault on "fortress Europe".
Packed into the slim, brightly-painted open wooden fishing boats found on most West African beaches, well over 1,000 came ashore in the Spanish Canary Islands over the last week in what experts say was the starting gun of the latest migrant exodus.
"The season has started ... it seems the word is out that it's time to go again," Laurent de Boeck, the acting regional representative for West and Central Africa of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), told Reuters on Thursday.
Experts believe lighter winds and calmer seas after months of heavy trade winds may have triggered last week's departures.
From the parched Cape Verde Islands and the desert coasts of North Africa to the jungle creeks of the Guinea coast, Spanish and Italian planes and patrol boats are gearing up for another cat-and-mouse interception mission to try to halt the migrants.
Although the 3,000 migrants who have reached the Canaries this year represent a third of last year's arrival rate -- a decrease attributed to adverse weather and increased patrolling -- experts fear last week's heavy influx heralds a fresh flood.
Spain stands in the front line of the migrant invasion -- more than 30,000 came ashore in the Canaries last year. Madrid has made strenuous diplomatic efforts to persuade West African governments from Mauritania to Guinea to try to stem the clandestine departures in return for increased development aid.
But, de Boeck admits, the European-African response to the migrant problem is still struggling to make an impact: "It's certainly not sufficient and there is need for more support."
Neither the risks of the long ocean voyages, which often end in death at sea for the migrants, nor the increased patrolling seem to deter young Africans and their families who dream of a job in Europe as the key to a better life.
"Most believe that Europe is still the place to be, that you earn more in a month there than in a year here, that there are jobs everywhere, that people are welcoming," de Boeck said.
In Senegal, migration to Europe by any means is viewed as a coveted mark of social prestige and fishermen were abandoning their nets to recruit and carry a much more lucrative human cargo paying up to 700,000 CFA francs ($1,443) each for a place.
BIGGER BOATS
The migrant vessels, local fishing boats known as "pirogues" tillered by experienced mariners, were also getting bigger.
"They keep taking more people. Since they may have already succeeded with 15, they now try with more than 100 (in each boat)," de Boeck said, referring to the recent arrivals.
Departures were organised by word of mouth in local communities, with passengers paying in advance and often being summoned at short notice for fast, night time getaways.
Local Muslim holy men known as "marabouts" were regularly consulted by the migrant smugglers, de Boeck said.
"The marabouts ... are the ones who decide when the boat can go ... whether it's the right day, whether it's a good moon. They bless the people the day they leave," he said.
He believed the Spanish government, under pressure at home where immigration is a hot political issue, would seek to swiftly repatriate the latest Canaries arrivals to send a blunt message to Africa that clandestine entry would not be tolerated.
"Unfortunately, the more people arrive illegally, the more European countries will close their borders and give fewer visas to migrate legally, so it's a vicious circle," de Boeck said.
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