Index site surveys have been performed since 1978 to monitor abalone populations in British Columbia. This paper presents the results of the index sites survey in the south-east Queen Charlotte Islands in April 2002. Survey methods are described and findings from sampling at 68 historic index sites are presented & discussed with regard to numbers of abalone, mean shell length, density, and percent of sites with abalone. The abalone density estimates are compared with those measured in previous surveys.

"The legal harvest of Northern Abalone, Haliotis kamtschatkana, was closed in 1990 due to population declines and subsequent conservation concerns. Northern Abalone has been monitored at index sites along the East Coast of Haida Gwaii (ECHG) and the Central Coast (CC) Regions of British Columbia by Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) since 1978. In response to conservation concerns, surveys were expanded to include the West Coast of Vancouver Island (WCVI) Region in 2003, the Queen Charlotte Strait (QCS) Region in 2004, and the West Coast of Haida Gwaii (WCHG) Region in 2008. This report presents survey data collected for each of these Regions since either 2000 or the initiation of the survey and includes the results of analysis using a hurdle gamma Bayesian model to examine long-term trends in the population and distribution within each Region"--Abstract, p. iii.