Residents enjoyed warm temperatures and calm waters early this week, but commercial gillnetters weren't sharing the excitement.

"It's the worst kind of conditions you can have," said Joel Pasquan, a Haines fisherman shortly after pulling into port on Tuesday. "(The fish) can see the dirty net."

The Upper Lynn Canal drift gillnet fishery opened at noon Sunday, with prices to fishermen depressed.

Haines Packing Company, the canal's only Haines-based processor, paid $1 per pound for sockeye, less than half of last year's price and 50 cents for chum. Ocean Beauty paid 60 cents per pound for the hatchery-raised chum that fishermen were catching.

"The price is disappointing to say the least," said fisherman Steve Fossman, "It's kinda hard for guys to get by. The cost of operating has probably quadrupled or six fold on everything in the last couple years and then the fish price goes down."

The international sockeye market was flooded with a record harvest in Alaska last year, driven by the Bristol Bay fishery. Buyers still have filets on hand, leaving little demand to buy more, according to KDLG, the public radio station in Dillingham. Chum harvests were good, despite low prices.

"For chum salmon harvest that was a great first opener, the catch was above average," said Nicole Zeiser, the area biologist for Alaska Department of Fish & Game. "It was a little slow for sockeye, but not terrible."

Season-opening prices for pinks and Dungeness crab also were substantially lower than last year's prices. Haines Packing paid 25 cents per pound for pink salmon. Dungeness crab were fetching for $2 per pound after peaking at $4.25 in 2021.

"The demand is just low right now, for whatever reason," said Haines Packing's Harry Rietze.

Wild salmon returns also appeared to be later than usual.

Nicole Zeiser, area biologist for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, said preseason predictions for sockeye and chum salmon were average to strong for both Chilkat and Chilkoot rivers. But as of Friday just a handful of sockeye had passed through the fish wheels on Chilkat River and Chilkoot River weir.

"Typically we should have about 1,500 sockeye through by now, but not a single one has gone through yet (as of Monday), so the run is late," said Zeiser. "It's concerning."

In recent years, runs have generally come a week or two later than the historic timing. So far, this year has been even more extreme.

Biologists speculate late runs could have something to do with rising water temperatures related to climate change. A mass of warm water in the Gulf of Alaska 2013 known as "the Blob" reappeared in 2019. Scientists believe the warm ocean water affected the timing of the run, but ocean temperatures have since rebounded.

That's left a handful of theories for why the runs are coming in late, including colder than usual river temperatures or other ecosystem disruptions while the salmon feed in the ocean.

Recent warm temperatures in Southeast Alaska could be leading to more cold water in the rivers from glacial and snow melt in the mountains, delaying some fish runs, said Brian Elliott, who oversees king salmon for Fish and Game. Elliott said temperatures over the past few weeks have been between 6 and 7 degrees Celsius. Normally, he said, it's around 10 degrees.

Fish and Game forecasted the coho run, which starts later in the summer, to be "average to below average" this year. Pink salmon seasons were predicted to be poor, at about half the 10-year average of 33 million fish.

Fisheries managers have kept precautions in place to avoid catching chinook salmon, which were designated a "stock of concern" about five years ago after fewer fish than expected returned to the river. Fishing areas have stuck close to shore, mesh size is still restricted to six inches, and night fishing is closed after 10 p.m.