50 CFR § 600.1017 - Prohibitions and penalties.

(a) The following activities are prohibited, and it is unlawful for any party to:

(1) Vote in any referendum under this subpart if the party is ineligible to do so;

(2) Vote more than once in any referendum under this subpart;

(3) Sign or otherwise cast a ballot on behalf of a voter in any referendum under this subpart unless the voter has fully authorized the party to do so and doing so otherwise comports with this subpart;

(4) Interfere with or attempt to hinder, delay, buy, or otherwise unduly or unlawfully influence any eligible voter's vote in any referendum under this subpart;

(5) Submit a fraudulent, unauthorized, incomplete, misleading, unenforceable by specific performance, or inaccurate bid in response to an invitation to bid under this subpart or, in any other way, interfere with or attempt to interfere with, hinder, or delay, any invitation to bid, any bid submitted under any invitation to bid, any reduction contract, or any other reduction process in connection with any invitation to bid;

(6) Revoke or attempt to revoke any bid under this subpart;

(7) Fail to comply with the terms and conditions of any invitation to bid, bid, or reduction contract under this subpart, including NMFS' right under such reduction contracts to specific performance;

(8) Fail to fully and properly pay and collect any fee due payable, and collectible under this subpart or otherwise avoid, decrease, interfere with, hinder, or delay any such payment and collection,

(9) Convert, or otherwise use for any purpose other than the purpose this subpart intends, any paid or collected fee;

(10) Fail to fully and properly deposit on time the full amount of all fee revenue collected under this subpart into a deposit account and disburse the full amount of all deposit principal to the Fund's lockbox account—all as this subpart requires;

(11) Fail to maintain full, timely, and proper fee payment, collection, deposit, and/or disbursement records or make full, timely, and proper reports of such information to NMFS-all as this subpart requires;

(12) Fail to advise NMFS of any fish seller's refusal to pay, or of any fish buyer's refusal to collect, any fee due and payable under this subpart;

(13) Refuse to allow NMFS or agents that NMFS designates to review and audit at reasonable times all books and records reasonably pertinent to fee payment, collection, deposit, disbursement, and accounting under this subpart or otherwise interfere with, hinder, or delay NMFS or it agents in the course of their activities under this subpart;

(14) Make false statements to NMFS, any of the NMFS' employees, or any of NMFS' agents about any of the matters in this subpart;

(15) Obstruct, prevent, or unreasonably delay or attempt to obstruct, prevent, or unreasonably delay any audit or investigation NMFS or its agents conduct, or attempt to conduct, in connection with any of the matters in this subpart; and/or

(16) Otherwise materially interfere with the efficient and effective conduct of reduction and the repayment of reduction loans under this subpart.

(b) Any party who violates one or more of the prohibitions of paragraph (a) of this section is subject to the full range of penalties the Magnuson-Stevens Act and 15 CFR part 904 provide—including, but not limited to: civil penalties, sanctions, forfeitures, and punishment for criminal offenses—and to the full penalties and punishments otherwise provided by any other applicable law of the United States.

(c) Additionally, NMFS may take any and all appropriate actions, including the communication of action at law, against each party responsible for the non-payment, non-collection, non-deposit, and/or non-disbursement in accordance with § 600.1013 and/or § 600.1014 to enforce the United States' receipt from such party of any fee—including penalties and all costs of collection—due and owing the United States on account of the reduction loan that such party should have, but did not, pay, collect, deposit, and/or disburse in accordance with § 600.1013 and/or § 600.1014. All such reduction loan recoveries shall be applied to reduce the unpaid balances of reduction loans.