Greens outline plans for workers displaced by fish farm closures

The party has said there are 60 local jobs attached to fish farming in Macquarie Habour, which accounts for 16 per cent of all jobs in Strahan.

Under the transition plan, new jobs in the township will be established within the Parks and Wildlife Service, the Natural Resources and Environment Department, the West Coast Council, in remote firefighting and through the establishment of a West Coast public works division.

For those not wanting to find work in the public sector, the party will establish a wage assistance program to pay local businesses $30,000 a year over four years to employ displaced workers.

The Greens will provide payments of $42,000 a year for up to three years for impacted workers to undertake further study or training in an area of their choosing.

A worker transition team will be established within the Department of Premier and Cabinet to keep in touch with workers and provide guidance and support.

The party believes its transition plan will cost $5 million a year.

Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff said for the endangered Maugean skate to survive, fish farms needed to be removed from Macquarie Harbour.

She said the Greens' plan acknowledged that environmental protection needed to be balanced against enduring employment within a regional community.

"The Maugean skate has lived since the time of the dinosaurs," Dr Woodruff said.

"It is a remarkable creature we should celebrate and protect, but instead it has been pushed to the brink of extinction by massive industrial fish farming operations polluting its only habitat - Macquarie Harbour."