FISHING FOR SUPPORT

Last updated 19:45, Thursday, 05 June 2008

WEST Cumbria can be proud of the warm welcome and courtesy extended to its Royal visitors yesterday.

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived to a splash of colour and cheering crowds celebrating Whitehaven’s 300th birthday. What a splendid sight it was.

They saw a harbour area transformed, like much of West Cumbria, by regeneration money.

Then it was on to Lillyhall and the official opening of the Cumberland Pencil factory; a Royal seal of approval for one of our oldest industries.

The Royal couple said their farewells to our area at a lunch in the picturesque setting of Underscar near Keswick.

Tourism, traditional industry, a revitalised coast, and the beauty of the Lake District - the very best of West Cumbria was on show yesterday.

What a wonderful day it was, certainly fit for a Queen.

The Queen won’t have had time to chat to the West Cumbrian fishermen who provide our harbour towns with so much colour.

If she had, she may have been party to their growing resentment at the soaring fuel prices now threatening their business.

The county’s chief fishery officer this week predicted that many trawlermen will have to pack it in.

The 40 per cent price hike in fuel since New Year is a major blow to an already beleaguered and diminished industry.

It is time that our fishermen received Government subsidies like those in France and Spain.

If not, we may soon find our harbours full of fishing boats that never actually set out to sea.