A Home Affairs Select Committee reported last year that there were just three Border Force boats patrolling 7,700 miles of Britain's coastline at any one time.
Italy, by comparison, had 600 vessels for 4,700 miles of coastline.
The report found Border Force was 'clearly under-resourced', with the number of vessels in operation 'worryingly low'.
Since then more boats have been drafted in to mainly target people smugglers looking to get migrants across the Channel.
The North Sea coast, meanwhile, remains open and isolated.
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