Comment by lancebeet
2 days ago
Global connect (the company that owns and operates most data cables in the Baltic sea) is running tests with tamper detecting cables. They say they will be able to detect a whale at a distance of 80 kilometers. I assume the whale is just used as an example to demonstrate its sensitivity, since whales haven't been implicated in any of the previous cable breaks.
Swedish: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/ljusstrale-genom-kablar-k...
How do we know that the whales have not been implicated without these sensors? Perhaps they will reveal that whales were the issue all along.
The whales already signed an international treaty on this, and it's really unlikely they are going to violate their treaty obligations by destroying fiber optic cables.
Also, you know, whales not having sharp teeth and the ability to chew small breaks into cables that look remarkably like intentionally dragging boat anchors across them and all that.
The idea of a sabotage-whale armed with torpedoes reminds me of the book Starter Villain by John Scalzi. (It's... relatively zany.)
I hope researchers get access to some of that data. Would be cool if an unintended side effect of this work ends up benefiting marine wildlife research.