The cables emit an electromagnetic field which causes them to sit still, leading to biological changes that could lead to greater infection risk, according to a study.
Researchers are concerned about the drop in activity levels because it means crabs are spending less time foraging for food or looking for a mate.
The UK has pretty much led the world in destroying the natural environment. The UK has failed to reach 17 out of 20 UN biodiversity targets agreed on 10 years ago, according to an analysis from conservation charity RSPB that says the gap between rhetoric and reality has resulted in a “lost decade for nature”.
We are very good at talking the talk but very poor at getting things done.
Aye, and we will never get that back, either.
I am very surprised such cables are not of the screened variety. It is very well know that standard cables of several descriptions emit electromagnetic radiation when current flows and this is why TV etc signal leads are all screened so as to avoid any interference.
Oh that’s a good point…I have no idea how these things work really…but I would hazard a guess that expense might be the reason?
Money is always the reason why things are not done.
U R prolly right there Pix …all too often contracts are awarded to the lowest tender 
So long as nobody (human) dies, eh? Who cares about a few fish and their friends
I doubt any human lives were considered when tenders were invited to insulate the exterior of Grenfell Tower 
Bit more than a few fish as it is reckoned that the underwater microphones that litter the oceans placed by various countries mainly America and Russia during the cold war affect whales direction finding abilities which can cause mass beaching’s.
I read about that last year…that upset me. Also something about sonar used by these countries, affecting the sealife too. Its horrendous…out of sight, out of mind, it seems. 
So long as we get what we want.
The sonar echo is only the tip of the iceberg Pix. Whales and dolphins have been beaching themselves since ships were equipped with propellers. These propellers produce something called cavitation in the water and with it comes a sound frequency that interrupts the animals natural sound navigations system. Phone masts interfere with bats navigation … etc etc … that is a huge list where wildlife has suffered for man’s advancements 
Derailing my own thread here, but there was the news item about the ship in Japan who caught a whale on the bow of their boat and travelled for miles with it stuck there. Heartsick I was.
Shielding screens the electrical radiation very successfully but not the magnetic field. You can test this yourself, put a powerful magnet inside your microwave, shut the door and see if the magnet affects a compass outside the microwave (it will). The microwave is a Faraday cage to protect you from the microwaves but it has no effect on magnetism (it’s a bit more complex than that but basically correct)
The cable used for TV antennas etc is called Coax. It has a central core & often an outer braid, but this can be solid brass on some low loss coaxes. The two are separated by a dialectric. There maybe also be a foil shield too. This type of cable is very different to electric cable & is measured in Ohms.
In Coax, the currents on the outer braid & the inner core run in opposing directions. The outer shield is there, in part, to prevent the Radio frequency from escaping & thus attenuation of the signal strength. The better the coax, the more outer braid.
Another form of RF cabling is two parallel wires separated simply by distance. This is called ribbon, or twin feeder & it is very low loss, providing it does not come into close proximity to other objects. Twin feeder is also no use at higher frequencies. Twin feeder also generally has a higher impedance.
Using the crabs as a reference, could this phenomena explain
the dysfunction of human society today ??
Due to the huge amount of UHF and vhf radiation that is now
present in our everyday environment ??
Donkeyman! 
Interesting idea, @Donkeyman of course, you don’t actually expect anyone to do the tests? Or tell of the results, because that might mean something has to be done about it, and consequentially lose money.
So, while I think you may have a point…those in power would rubbish it. 
However…taking it literally…people are still moving, mating, and making food, so that would be their argument. 
Undersea cables are not my forte. But a coupe of things.
Underseas fiber optic cables wouldn’t affect the Brown Crabs.
Power cables are often lead sheathed so wouldn’t ordinarily have external electromagnetic fields.
So it seems that these aren’t sheathed then? If not, why not?
I don’t have an answer to that or even whether or not they are sheathed.
