Gouldsboro voters will be asked in mid-November whether they support a 180-day moratorium on aquaculture development.

The Select Board voted Thursday night to call for an open meeting at 6 p.m. Nov. 15 at the Gouldsboro Recreation Center on Pond Road, Town Manager Yvonne Wilkinson confirmed Friday. At that time, residents will decide whether to vote by secret ballot or in public.

The issue came before the board following last week’s unanimous vote by the Planning Board in support of the moratorium. American Aquafarms is proposing to use a lobster processing factory in Prospect Harbor, a village in Gouldsboro, as home base for its closed-pen salmon farm in Frenchman Bay. 

The company, which has faced fierce backlash against its proposal to put the pens in the bay near Acadia National Park, has said it wants to renovate the 100,000-square-foot Maine Fair Trade Lobster plant.

If voters in town approve the moratorium, it will take effect immediately and be in effect for 180 days or until it is repealed.