Red abalone, Haliotis rufescens, were collected at Johnsons Lee, Santa Rosa Island, in the summers of 1978 through 1982, and in 1984, to obtain data for determining various fishery population parameters. Annual visits to the study site were made at yearly intervals to simplify growth calculations.
During the first four visits, 2145 red abalones were tagged,
measured, and replaced. Shell damage, soft tissue injuries, and causes of mortality were noted. The method of tagging is
described.
Recovery of first tagged abalone after one year was approximately 30%. Analysis of variance of the annual samples indicated that the samples were, with one exception, not different. Summaries are presented of the number of abalone collected and tagged by year, frequencies of shell damage, soft tissue injury, predatory sponge infestation, and total mortality. Appendices include a listing of the raw size data and various codes for each tagged abalone. (56pp.
