Facing a second year of restricted fishing, some setnetters on the east side of Cook Inlet, in the US state of Alaska, are experimenting with purse seine gear as a workaround to salvage their season

Public radio station KDLL, in Kenai, Alaska, reports that 400 permit holders are affected by the closure of the setnet fishery on the east side of Cook Inlet, as the state tries to preserve the area's dwindling number of king salmon.

Set gillnet gear snags fish as they swim through the net, meaning they're mostly dead by the time the gear is pulled from the water. One group of fishermen, however, are testing out custom purse seine gear from the shore, which captures fish alive. That means there's a good chance that any kings hauled in when targeting sockeye can be returned to the water unharmed.

The group has an emergency permit through Alaska's Board of Fish, which oversees management of fisheries in state waters, to use the experimental gear on a temporary basis.

It's still early, but Alaska Department of Fish and Game commissioner Doug Vincent-Lang told KDLL that he was "cautiously optimistic" the gear could work if implemented more widely throughout the fishery in the future.