Recent events in the Baltic Sea and other places have highlighted the importance of undersea cables and pipelines for the global economy, and indeed our daily life. Fibre optic cables are the arteries of the modern world, transmitting over 99% of intercontinental data. While electricity and gas pipelines have less global significance, they remain crucial to regional and local economies. This blog argues that attacks on subsea cables and pipelines could qualify as acts of piracy, allowing all states to board, search, and seize vessels engaged in or suspected of such attacks, as well as apprehend and prosecute those responsible.
Law of the Sea
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Some Issues in The Law Concerning Naval Auxiliaries
Introduction The use of non-warships and non-coast guard cutters for contest operations is a clear feature of current tensions at sea. The use of merchant vessels to cut cables in the Baltic Sea, along with harassment and presence operations by fishing vessels as part of the PRC maritime militia in the South China Sea…
Christmas Day Cable Cuts in the Baltic Sea
In less than 14 months, submarine telecommunications cables connecting Estonia, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Russia, and Sweden have been cut nine times in the Baltic Sea. In addition, an underwater electricity cable and a gas pipeline have been cut by a ship anchor. These damages occurred in three separate incidents all involving a foreign commercial ship dragging an anchor…
Reforming Ocean Governance
A proposal to establish a new mechanism (its legal status is unclear) within international ocean governance is being debated. France has been the main proponent of the proposed Intergovernmental (or International, this is being discussed) Platform for Ocean Sustainability (IPOS). The EU has funded its development and IPOS currently has ‘official support’ from Chile and China. A…
What should states do to combat the sabotage of submarine cables and pipelines beneath the high seas/EEZs?
Submarine cables and pipelines are vitally important for energy supply, global communications and economic activity. But several recent high-profile incidents have exposed their vulnerability to deliberate damage from state and non-state actors. In April 2021, Norway reported that several kilometres of its fibreoptic cables disappeared from the Svalbard archipelago, leaving Norway unable to monitor submarine activity in…