Lake net pens are used for enhancement of wild salmon and trout. These have low densities and relatively low biomass. Two lakes are used for commercial smolt production, Georgie Lake on Vancouver Island and Lois Lake on the mainland. There is currently a moratorium on the use of additional lakes for smolt production until a response to the Environmental Assessment Review and acceptance of guidelines. Georgie Lake was intensively studied in 1992 and 1993.
Sediments are naturally high in organic matter.
Georgie Lake supported production of 8-14 tonnes of Atlantic salmon smolts annually between 1989 and 1994. Maximum feed utilized in this period was 21 tonnes in 1989. This study concluded that synoptic water quality studies are of limited value as effects are ephemeral and easily masked by water flow. Periphyton did accrue on sampling plates at a station as far as 200 meters away from the net pens. Periphyton samplers are a useful integrator of the effects of nutrient addition.