In 2003, some members of the Chinook Technical Committee raised questions regarding the implementation of the Individual Stock Based Management (ISBM) provision of the Chinook chapter of Annex IV of the U.S.-Canada Pacific Salmon Treaty. Consequently, a review of the implementation and application of the ISBM provision was identified as a high priority item with regard to the Chinook Letter of Agreement (LOA) funding. This is the first of two reports that are promised under that funding.

This report has two primary objectives. They are:

1. To document the source of data that is used to compute the ISBM indices for each of the stocks identified in the Chinook chapter.
2. To document the algorithms used in computing the indices pre- and post-season for each of these stocks, and the procedures used in the extracting the data from the Chinook Technical Committee’s Chinook model or from coded wire tag (CWT) data.

A third primary objective was to identify problems with these indices. Initially the identification of problems with the indices was to be part of a second phase report along with proposed recommendations or alternatives designed to address these problems. However, while documenting these indices, several limitations for the use of ISBM indices pre and post-season were identified which are also summarized in this report. Possible alternatives to the use of ISBM indices pre and post-season, with a feasibility analysis of these alternatives, will be investigated in a report next year (2006-2007 cycle).