They obviously aren't going to stop the moment EU declares a cease to rescue operations. It will need to taper off, which will mean death in the short term.
I think this really isn't the case. It's just that "rescue" has a different meaning. Instead to wait for migrants get into european waters and bring them on EU shores they use drones to alert neighbouring countries (i.e Libya) and stop them taking these dangerous journeys before getting in EU waters. Otherwise what use would the drones have? Watch and bet whether the migrants make it or not on EU shores?
They're using the drones to conduct other patrolling duties, not to save migrants.
Obviously they look for any illegal cargo but I believe now the migrants make the bulk of incidents. Isn't this supposed to detect migrants ships faster(i.e before they get into EU waters) ?