A total 970 migrants were rescued in the central Mediterranean on Thursday in six operations coordinated by Italian coastguard.
The migrants were aboard four inflatable dinghies, a small boat and a larger vessel, coastguard said.
The migrants were picked up by a Norwegian ship from the European Union's border and coastguard agency Frontex and two vessels operated by the Sos Mediterranee charity.
Italian coastguard overnight saved 85 migrants from yacht off the Peloponnese in southern Greece. They were transferred to the port of Kalamata.
A total of 16,775 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2017 through 26 February, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
Just over 80 percent of the total arrived Italy and the rest in Greece and Spain, IOM said.
The 13,457 migrants who arrived in Italy before the end of February compare with fewer than 9,000 by the same date in 2016 and represent a "significant increase" from the same period over the last two years, the IOM said.