The O'Connor Lake Net Pen facility is truly the jewel in NVISEA's juvenile rearing activities. NVISEA's O'Connor pen system has twelve 145 m2 (16'x16'x20') individual pens. Each is enclosed by submerged PVC coated wire mesh to prevent predator attack and net damage. The system is operated from September's fry introduction to May's smolt release period. The site is allowed to fallow for the summer months, May to September, allowing the site to naturally breakdown accumulated wastes. NVISEA's current O'Connor production is 200,000 Coho smolts and 50,000 Steelhead smolts.

An advantage of lake pen rearing is reduced operational cost as no electricity is required to pump water. It is environmentally friendly using solar powered automated feeders. Labour requirements are also minimized with the automated feeder system. Maintenance expenses have been greatly reduced since the donation of a galvanized steel pen system in 1999 by the BC Salmon Farmers Association. This replaced an aged wooden pen structure that had been in operation for nearly 20 years. In addition to reduced operational costs smolt quality is also greatly improved by low density lake rearing and minimal human interaction.