People shouldn't be too surprised by the lack of fish as prior to the opening the estimated return had already been downgraded to 6 million fish. Your catch rate of course will be a lot lower when the run is less than half of some of the better years. Salmon runs, like most other fish species with short cycles, can fluctuate as they are dictated by the abundance of both the lower and higher trophic levels in the ocean. Too little amount of food will result in smaller fish, higher mortality due to stress. Too many predators will result in higher mortality especially when migrating out as little smolts. If conditions improve, the ocean will yield lots of fish again in two years from now.