In December 2023, around six weeks after its commissioning, the Sea-Watch 5 rescued around 100 people in distress in the Mediterranean during its first missions in international waters and provided them with first aid on board.[7]
In May 2025 the ship rescued 190 people from the sea and delivered them to the port of Marina di Carrara in Tuscany.[8]
In late September 2025 the activists claimed to be 40 nautical miles off the Libiyan coast when they picked up some 66 migrants from a fiberglass boat at night. The captain steered that boat back to Libya after the migrants were on Sea-Watch 5. A Libyan coast guard vessel later approached Sea-Watch 5 and demanded them to leave the area, with some crewmembers hearing a gunshot from the Libyan vessel. On their way back they picked up another group of migrants and finally landed 124 migrants from Bangladesh and Sudan in Italy.[9]
On 12 December 2025 the activists picked up 69 migrants in the Strait of Sicily in two operations and were given La Spezia as port to disembark them. Minors were allowed by Italian authorities to leave earlier in Pantelleria.[10]
On 24 January 2026 the activists picked up 18 migrants in international waters and headed for Italy. The ship was detained by Italian authorities after disembarking the migrants in Catania and Sea Watch was fined 7,500 Euro for not coordinating with the Libyan coastguard.[11] The detention was overturned by a court in Catania in February 2026.[12]
On 18 March 2026 the activists again cited an emergency to ignore Italian authorities designated port Marina di Carrara for disembarking and headed for Trapani instead to unload some 100 migrants they had picked up earlier. Sea-Watch was also found to have not coordinated with the Libyan coastguard during the rescue. Sea Watch was fined 10,000 Euro and Sea-Watch 5 was impounded for 20 days.[13]
