Bainbridge Island approved an emergency six-month ban on “new aquaculture activities” at its meeting Tuesday.

Mayor Anne Blair said the vote on a moratorium was needed because the issue was “a time-sensitive emergency.”

City officials noted the city’s Shoreline Master Program was being challenged before a state growth management hearings board, and that the city’s new aquaculture rules – adopted last year with the council’s approval of the SMP – was the basis of one of the legal challenges.

Council members had decided at a previous meeting to revisit the new rules for possible changes this year.

The ban was passed unanimously on a 7-0 vote.