There are significant cable landing sites at Pacific City and at
Nedonna Beach near Rockaway, Oregon, not far from here in Portland.
They connect variously to Japan, Hawaii (and Australia), Alaska
and California.
Quite a bit about these cable terminuses can be found at the
Oregon Fishermen's Cable Committee web site.
www.ofcc.com/cable_locations.htm
The OFCC worked closely from the mid-1990s onward with at least
three cable operators, Tyco, Alaska Northstar and Southern Cross
(which has the main US-Australia loops). They have a special
agreement that basically amounts to a collaborative approach to
actual or potential cable snags by trawlers.
The background makes for interesting reading. "The Oregon
Fishermen's Undersea Cable Committee Agreement (Oregon
Fishermen's Agreement) is the first effort by two industries to
discuss, describe and delineate their shared use of a community
resource -- the ocean . . . The Oregon Fishermen's Agreement is
intended to prevent damage to the fiber optic cable by releasing
a Participating Fisherman from possible civil liability for ordinary
negligence to WCICI/ANC/NorthStar Network under defined
circumstances rather than by relying on fear and litigation."
There's also an International Cable Protection Committee with what
looks like a pretty complete listing of all active, retired and planned
cable routes at:
-- fh