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Have we gotten captains to confess as to why they dragged the anchor at specific times over the cables? No. We do have records showing that the ships have saile

Have we gotten captains to confess as to why they dragged the anchor at specific times over the cables? No. We do have records showing that the ships have sailed across the cables multiple times, slowing down every time they have passed them.

diggan 2y ago
I think it happens a lot more often than you think, and current news reporting also skews the perspective one get. Linked from another comment: https://blog.telegeography.com/what-happens-when-submarine-cables-break https://blog.telegeography.com/what-happens-when-submarine-c... > Cable faults are common. On average, there are over 100 each year. [...] Unintentional damage from fishing vessels and ships dragging anchors account for two-thirds of all cable faults. 100 each year would be one every three days, but of course you don't read about all them in the news. I'm not saying none of the cable breakages are sabotage, I/we don't know. As far as we know, I don't think we have any cases (with or without confession) where we can be 100% it's intentional, at least yet.
- agapon 2y ago
  100 cable "faults", but only 2/3-rd are from ships. And, then, how many of those have been in the Baltic Sea in prior years? 66 incidents per year sounds like a lot, but there are so many cables and shipping lanes all over the world.
  - amiga386 2y ago
    Read the linked page, and its infographic. 38% + 25% = 63% ~ "two thirds". There are another 11% caused by "human activity", it's just neither "fishing" (trawler nets) nor "anchorage", but "other", which could even be a keel severing the cable close to shore. https://blog.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017/submarine-cable-map/faq-graphics/causes-of-cable-faults.png https://blog.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017/submarine-ca... 74% human caused (38% fishing, 25% anchorage, 11% other) 14% environmental (8% natural, 6% abrasion) 12% neither human nor environmental (6% component failure, 6% other) "Deliberate sabotage and shark bites are exceedingly rare"

diggan 2y ago

I think it happens a lot more often than you think, and current news reporting also skews the perspective one get. Linked from another comment: https://blog.telegeography.com/what-happens-when-submarine-cables-break https://blog.telegeography.com/what-happens-when-submarine-c... > Cable faults are common. On average, there are over 100 each year. [...] Unintentional damage from fishing vessels and ships dragging anchors account for two-thirds of all cable faults. 100 each year would be one every three days, but of course you don't read about all them in the news. I'm not saying none of the cable breakages are sabotage, I/we don't know. As far as we know, I don't think we have any cases (with or without confession) where we can be 100% it's intentional, at least yet.

agapon 2y ago
100 cable "faults", but only 2/3-rd are from ships. And, then, how many of those have been in the Baltic Sea in prior years? 66 incidents per year sounds like a lot, but there are so many cables and shipping lanes all over the world.
- amiga386 2y ago
  Read the linked page, and its infographic. 38% + 25% = 63% ~ "two thirds". There are another 11% caused by "human activity", it's just neither "fishing" (trawler nets) nor "anchorage", but "other", which could even be a keel severing the cable close to shore. https://blog.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017/submarine-cable-map/faq-graphics/causes-of-cable-faults.png https://blog.telegeography.com/hs-fs/hubfs/2017/submarine-ca... 74% human caused (38% fishing, 25% anchorage, 11% other) 14% environmental (8% natural, 6% abrasion) 12% neither human nor environmental (6% component failure, 6% other) "Deliberate sabotage and shark bites are exceedingly rare"