Coming up this week, the FDA extends the public comment period on a new genetically engineered fish species, a study finds majority of seafood workers in Alaska live out of state, a world renowned fisheries economist talks market trends for salmon and a petition to protect Alaska’s cold water corals stalls. All that and the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute’s photo contest winners, coming up, on the Alaska Fisheries Report.

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     The U.S. Attorney in Anchorage announced Friday evening that an arrest has been made in the double-murder at the Communications Station on Coast Guard Base Kodiak nearly a year ago. James Michael “Jim" Wells, long considered the prime suspect by the FBI, was taken into custody by members of the Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Alaska State Troopers.
    On April 12, 2012, U.S. Coast Guard Electrician’s Mate First Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Boatswain’s Mate Richard Belisle were found shot to death in one of the buildings at the communications station by coworkers. Belisle was working for the Coast Guard as a civilian contractor at the time. Wells was also employed at the communications station.
    FBI spokesman Eric Gonzales said 61-year-old Wells’ arrest came after an officer filed a criminal complaint and a federal arrest warrant was issued.  Gonzales said the complaint, or affidavit, is sealed, and will remain so until Wells appears in court, which is expected sometime next week in Anchorage. This means the underlying details and facts leading up to the arrest remain confidential. Gonzales did not say what the motive in the killings might have been.
    The arrest came after 10 months of investigation led by the FBI and the Coast Guard Investigative Service, along with the Alaska State Troopers.

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            The U.S. Attorney in Anchorage has announced that James Michael "Jim" Wells of Kodiak was arrested today (Friday, Feb. 15) in the double homicide of James Hopkins and Richard Belisle at the Communications Station on Coast Guard Base Kodiak nearly a year ago. More details to follow.

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            Last night the Kodiak Island Borough Assembly met for a work session and discussed waste management within the borough. Nick Szabo is the chair of the Solid Waste Advisory Board and spoke about the need for more reuse and recycling within the community. He said those will be the borough’s best defense against growing quantities of solid waste, but more education and outreach is needed within the community. Szabo said Threshold Recycling Services has an outreach program in place, and a good option for the borough would be to jump on board with those efforts. He suggested contributing about $6,000 to Threshold to help with their current outreach efforts, and implement new ones. Borough Mayor Jerome Selby said borough staff will definitely look into the financial contribution, but they would need to know exactly what the money would be used for before it was allocated.

            Another topic Szabo touched on was the idea of solid waste collection stations in Kodiak. He said the borough has discussed these before, but nothing has been done.