Jonesport residents on Wednesday rejected a six-month moratorium on aquaculture development, clearing the way for the town to give final consideration to a new land-based fish growing facility.

By a vote of 201-91, residents voted down a proposed moratorium that said these types of facilities “could pose a threat to the quality of life and the health and safety of Town residents.” Following votes by a show of hands on a few other matters of town business, the residents at Wednesday’s meeting opted to cast their ballots on the moratorium by secret ballot.

When Selectman William Milliken, who also served as town meeting moderator, read the vote totals, residents let out cheers and applause.

“I think it just shows the town of Jonesport wants this economic development,” Tom Sorby, co-operations manager of Kingfish Maine, said after the vote.

Kingfish Maine, a subsidiary of The Kingfish Co. of the Netherlands, is proposing to build a recirculating aquaculture system to grow yellowtail kingfish at a yet-to-be-built facility on 93 acres on Mason Bay Road. It began applying for permits in July 2020 and has received all necessary state and federal permits to construct several buildings to grow fish and process them, employing 70 to 100 people.

But in recent months, project opponents have begun to organize, and in May, resident Anson Alley turned in signatures to the town to call for a vote on a six-month moratorium. But with no debate on Wednesday, residents rejected the idea.

Milliken said the turnout of nearly 300 residents was the largest number of people for a town meeting in recent memory and possibly ever.

“It was a wonderful showing of the town, and I’m confident the townspeople spoke,” he said.

However, the process is not over yet. Kingfish still needs a building permit from the Jonesport Planning Board, which will continue its review of the project Aug. 2. Project opponents Protect Downeast, a group formed in April to oppose the Kingfish project, said in a statement issued after the vote that the Planning Board meeting will be another opportunity for the residents to ask questions.

“The Jonesport community has not had an opportunity to look at science in depth nor have they had a chance to see all sides of issues that are clearly important to them, such as the promise of jobs,” the group said. “That information will be presented to the planning board which is the next step in the process and the community may feel differently when all sides are presented.”

Kingfish Maine plans to produce between 13 million and 17 million pounds of fish per year, and like other companies hoping to open fish growing facilities in Maine, chose the state because of its proximity to major markets in New York and Boston.

Land-based facilities to grow salmon have been approved in Bucksport and Belfast, although part of the Belfast project is being challenged in court. Another project proposed by American Aquafarms would grow salmon in a closed-net pen system in Frenchman Bay, but the state recently rejected that application because it said the company did not identify an appropriate egg source. The company has challenged the state’s decision in court.

Maine Aquaculture Association executive director Sebastian Belle, who observed the Jonesport vote Wednesday night, said Kingfish spent time in town to earn the trust of the community.

“It’s company by company,” he said. “If they do their community work then they will probably get through; if they don’t, they will have a harder time. That’s the way the system works in Maine and the way it should work.”