Overview
- China’s Ministry of State Security posted a warning on WeChat on Friday, June 12, saying foreign intelligence actors have used detection buoys, wave‑powered gliders, shipborne electronics and sensor‑fitted marine animals to collect maritime data.
- The advisory described a spherical monitoring buoy with an acoustic sensor array, wave gliders with positioning and radio links, and large turtles and fish fitted with sensors that allegedly transmitted water and current data via satellite.
- The ministry urged fishermen, researchers and shipowners to report suspicious devices and referenced past reward programs that have paid finders as much as 500,000 yuan for turning in suspected spy equipment.
- Officials said the stolen data — water temperature, salinity, currents, seabed maps and acoustic signatures — can be used to locate submarines and map undersea approaches, which is why it was framed as a national security threat.
- Coverage notes the MSS did not name specific countries or give precise locations and media put the claim in the context of earlier, unverified cases of animal‑borne sensors and naval programs that used marine animals.