EDITORIAL Shark bite

There could be some sort of poetic justice for the mining industry in a report that sharks are busy eating fibre-optic transmission cables at the bottom of the sea.

Indeed we wonder if the industry, in a fit of pique over the fact that fibre optics are displacing copper in such cables, has set about establishing a training school for fibre-chewing sharks and is turning them loose in the oceans to wreak a little havoc.

We’ve become used to the idea since “Jaws,” that sharks, like goats, will eat almost anything, including us if we’re not careful. Nice to know that that voracity has become something of an ally in the fight against metals substitution. Now, what else can we recruit in the battle? Alligators trained to eat plastic boat hulls? Beavers turned loose on the highways to chomp on plastic car bumpers?

The possibilities are endless.