What applies on the beach and in the harbour at La Restinga?
The Ayuntamiento (town council) of El Pinar de El Hierro closed La Restinga beach as a precaution on 8 November. Workers are lifting boats off the pier.
The council gave no reopening date by Sunday. Anyone planning a swim or a walk should ask the town hall before heading to the harbour.
A team with a heavy-duty crane and divers works at the pier. About 26 cayucos had piled up there at times after the harbour's gantry crane broke down.
Overnight into Sunday, workers hauled two boats ashore and took them away, and left three more on land. Two more followed on Sunday, and lorries take them to the punto limpio (recycling site) in La Frontera.
Who arrived in La Restinga on Sunday?
About 500 people reached El Hierro in four cayucos on Sunday. Earlier reports spoke of three boats, but the latest count is four.
The first boat carried 215 people, including ten women and four minors, and was spotted nine miles off the island. The Salvamar Diphda (rescue boat) of Salvamento Marítimo, the state sea rescue service, went to its aid.
The second boat, with 80 people, appeared one mile off La Restinga, and the Diphda helped here too. The third, carrying 106 people including two women and four minors, was rescued by the Salvamar Acrux.
A fourth boat with about 100 people is being escorted by the Acrux to the port of La Estaca. So not every boat comes in at La Restinga.
Reports say the rescued people appeared to be in good health. Their origin has not been given for these boats.
What happens next for the new arrivals?
From Monday 9 November, transfers of migrants to Tenerife continue on two special ferry sailings. Emergency response sources said so.
How many people will travel and when the ships leave has not been published. Nor do the statements say whether regular ferry services are affected.
On Tuesday 10 November, the Comisión Interministerial de Inmigración (inter-ministerial migration commission) meets in La Moncloa, the seat of government in Madrid. Canary Islands president Fernando Clavijo and Alpidio Armas, president of the Cabildo (island government) of El Hierro, attend as an exception.
Ministers announced from the central government include Ángel Víctor Torres, José Manuel Albares, Elma Saiz, Yolanda Díaz, Pablo Bustinduy and Sira Rego. Clavijo said Pedro Sánchez promised him to strengthen healthcare on El Hierro through the State Secretariat for Migration.
Why do so many boats land on El Hierro?
According to an emergency services count, 3,515 people reached El Hierro in 31 cayucos between 1 January and 30 September. That is 48.96% of all 7,179 arrivals in the Canaries in that period.
Lanzarote received 2,133 people in 41 boats, and the two islands together took 5,648, almost 80%. Gran Canaria had 520, Tenerife 516, Fuerteventura 352 and La Gomera 143.
In this count a cayuco brought 113 people to El Hierro on average, against 52 per boat to Lanzarote. The boats of 3 and 4 November came from Senegal, according to reports, and spent five to seven days at sea.
How are the numbers developing and who decides?
Almost 47,000 people crossed the sea to the Canaries in 2024, and about 18,000 in 2025. The Interior Ministry gives 46,843 and 17,788, a fall of about 62%.
From 1 January to 30 September 2026 the Interior Ministry counts 7,133 arrivals in 95 boats, against 12,848 in 211 boats a year earlier. That is a fall of 44.5%.
The trend turned in October: from 1 to 15 October, 1,837 people arrived, against 643 in the same period of 2025, says the ministry. The year still stands 33.5% below the last, with 8,970 arrivals against 13,491.
Salvamento Marítimo leads sea rescue, while the Interior Ministry keeps the arrivals statistics. After the arrivals of 4 November the Canary government accuses Madrid of negligence and says not a single call came from Madrid.
What is still open?
The council gave no date for reopening the beach. How many people had already been moved on by 8 November has not been published.
On Tuesday 10 November the migration commission meets in La Moncloa, and no results are available yet. News on beach and harbour comes from the town hall of El Pinar de El Hierro.
According to the ministry, more than 3,600 minors live in the Canaries' support network, and the quota for compulsory distribution is 783. On 16 July the Consejera (regional minister) Candelaria Delgado asked the state for another 100 million euros for unaccompanied minors, and no reply is known.