Shearwater, BC, Canada

Shearwater, BC: Submarine Cable Landing Point

Shearwater is a coastal community in British Columbia, Canada, and one of 155 submarine cable landing points distributed across the country. One submarine cable lands here, connecting Shearwater to other points along the Canadian coast. The cable serving this community, Connected Coast, is a domestic Canadian cable, meaning the connectivity it provides operates entirely within Canada rather than extending to international destinations.

As a single-cable landing point on the coast of British Columbia, Shearwater participates in the regional submarine cable network that links remote and coastal communities along Canada's Pacific coastline. The Connected Coast cable, which reached readiness for service in 2024, represents the primary means by which Shearwater is integrated into Canada's submarine cable infrastructure.

Cables Landing at Shearwater, BC

Connected Coast is the sole submarine cable landing at Shearwater. It reached its ready-for-service date in 2024 and is currently in draft status. All endpoints on this cable are located within Canada, making it a domestic intra-national cable rather than an international link. Connected Coast serves coastal and island communities in British Columbia, and Shearwater represents one node in this broader network of Canadian landing points served by the system.

Regional Context

Among Canada's 155 submarine cable landing points, Shearwater hosts one cable, placing it alongside Addenbroke Island, BC, as a single-cable landing point in British Columbia. Other landing points in the country, including Vancouver, BC, Prince Rupert, BC, Halifax, NS, and several Quebec communities, each host two cables, reflecting a somewhat broader connectivity footprint. Shearwater's single-cable presence is representative of many smaller coastal landing points across Canada's extensive submarine cable geography.

Network Role

Shearwater functions as a terminus on the Connected Coast cable, integrating a coastal British Columbia community into Canada's domestic submarine cable network. Rather than serving as a hub with multiple onward cable connections, it operates as a single-cable endpoint, providing the community with the connectivity that the Connected Coast system delivers to participating landing points along the British Columbia coast.

Within the broader Canadian submarine cable graph, which spans 21 cables across 155 landing points and has been developing since 1991, single-cable landing points like Shearwater represent the furthest reach of the infrastructure into smaller and more remote coastal settlements. The Connected Coast cable's role in linking these communities means that Shearwater's position in the network, while modest in cable count, reflects an intentional effort to extend submarine cable access along British Columbia's coastline.