Subsea Cable Protection (ICPC)

Subsea cable protection is the set of measures that guard submarine telecom and power cables from anchors, fishing gear, abrasion, and seabed movement: target burial depth (often 0.6 to 3 m by route risk), rock placement, cast-iron or polyurethane articulated pipe, cable crossings agreements, and protection zones. Practice follows International Cable Protection Committee (ICPC) recommendations; most faults are caused by external aggression from fishing and anchoring rather than by the cable itself. On the high seas and continental shelf, the legal regime sits in UNCLOS Articles 112 to 115.