[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 224 (Wednesday, November 22, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55522-55526]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25299]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

50 CFR Part 648

[Docket No. 170104016-7999-03]
RIN 0648-XF138


Magnuson-Stevens Act Provisions; Fisheries of the Northeastern 
United States; Northeast Multispecies Fishery; Disapproval of Northeast 
Fishery Sector IX Operational Plan

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Commerce.

ACTION: Interim final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This rule withdraws approval of the 2017 and 2018 Northeast 
Fishery Sector IX operations plan. The Regional Administrator 
determined that the sector and its participants are not complying with 
the requirements of the approved operations plan, and that the 
continuation of the operations plan will undermine achievement of 
conservation and management objectives of the Northeast Multispecies 
Fishery Management Plan. This rule is intended to ensure that sector 
operations are consistent with approved plans for accurately monitoring 
and reporting sector catch to ensure that overages of a sector's 
allocation do not occur.

DATES: Approval of the Northeast Fishery Sector IX Operations Plan for 
Fishing Years 2017 and 2018 (May 1, 2017, through April 30, 2019) is 
withdrawn, effective November 20, 2017. Written comments must be 
received on or before December 20, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments on this document, identified by 
NOAA-NMFS-2017-0016, by either of the following methods:
     Electronic Submission: Submit all electronic public 
comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to 
www.regulations.gov/#!docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017-0016, click the 
``Comment Now!'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter or 
attach your comments.
     Mail: Submit written comments to John K. Bullard, Regional 
Administrator, National Marine Fisheries Service, 55 Great Republic 
Drive, Gloucester, MA 01930. Mark the outside of the envelope, 
``Comments on the Interim Final Rule to Withdraw Approval of NEFS 9.''
    Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other 
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period, 
may not be considered by NMFS. All comments received are a part of the 
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on 
www.regulations.gov without change. All personal identifying 
information (e.g., name, address, etc.), confidential business 
information, or otherwise sensitive information submitted voluntarily 
by the sender will be publicly accessible. NMFS will accept anonymous 
comments (enter ``N/A'' in the required fields if you wish to remain 
anonymous).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liz Sullivan, Fishery Policy Analyst, 
(978) 282-8493.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    To help achieve the fishing mortality and conservation objectives 
of the Fishery Management Plan (FMP), each sector is allocated annual 
catch entitlements (ACE) and must ensure that these ACEs are not 
exceeded. The Regional Administrator must approve sector operations 
plans in order for sectors to operate and be allocated ACE for specific 
groundfish stocks. A sector's operations plan includes a detailed plan 
for monitoring and reporting catch and the specific management rules 
sector participants will abide by in order to avoid exceeding the 
sector's allocation, as well as a plan for how the sector will operate 
if an ACE is exceeded. The operations plan also includes internal 
sector enforcement measures for operation plan breaches and remedies, 
such as a penalty schedule for non-compliance with the operations plan 
or other actions that would jeopardize the sector's continued approval. 
Penalties under the plan range from a written warning or fine to 
expulsion from the sector.
    The Regional Administrator may withdraw approval of a sector, after 
consultation with the New England Fishery Management Council, at any 
time as authorized in 50 CFR 648.87(c)(3). Withdrawal may occur if 
sector participants are not complying with the requirements of the 
approved operations plan or if the continuation of the operations plan 
will undermine achievement of fishing mortality objectives of the 
Northeast Multispecies FMP.
    On March 30, 2017, Carlos Rafael pleaded guilty to all counts in 
United States v. Carlos Rafael (No. 16-CR10124-WGY). Mr. Rafael is the 
owner of Carlos Seafood (a Federally permitted dealer) and a fleet of 
Federally permitted groundfish vessels that are enrolled in NEFS 9. Mr. 
Rafael admitted to falsely reporting catch information (species and 
weight) for 13 of his vessels on dealer catch reports and vessel trip 
reports from 2012 through 2015. These 13 vessels operated under the 
sector operations plan for NEFS 9 during the period of known 
misreporting, and are currently enrolled in the sector for fishing year 
2017. Sentencing for these violations occurred on September 25, 2017. 
Mr. Rafael was sentenced to serve 46 months in prison and 3 years of 
supervised release, and during supervised release, he is banned from 
working in the fishing industry. The Court also ordered Mr. Rafael to 
pay a fine of $200,000 and restitution to the U.S. Treasury of 
$108,929. On October 11, 2017, the U.S. District Court Judge in the 
criminal case ordered the forfeiture of Mr. Rafael's interests in 4 of 
the 13 vessels involved in the criminal case, as well as the permits 
issued to those vessels.
    On April 28, 2017, we published an interim final rule approving 19 
sectors and their operations plans, including NEFS 9, for fishing years 
2017 and 2018 (82 FR 19618). At the time, although Mr. Rafael had 
pleaded guilty, the criminal case was not complete and sentencing for 
the violations had not occurred. We provisionally approved the NEFS 9 
operations plan for fishing years 2017 and 2018, and allocated ACE to 
the sector for 2017, pending Mr. Rafael's sentencing to allow for our 
consideration of any additional information regarding NEFS 9 
operations. In the interim final rule, we noted that we intended to 
take

[[Page 55523]]

additional action, which may include consideration of the continued 
approval of the sector or additional management and monitoring 
requirements.

NEFS 9 Composition

    For fishing year 2017, there are 60 groundfish permits enrolled in 
NEFS 9, and Mr. Rafael is a major participant in the sector. All of Mr. 
Rafael's groundfish permits are enrolled in NEFS 9, and he does not 
have any other vessels enrolled in another sector. According to the 
current operations plan, 22 of the permits enrolled in NEFS 9 were 
expected to actively fish for groundfish. Of the remaining 38 permits 
in the sector, 18 are in Confirmation of Permit History (i.e. the 
permits are not on a vessel, but quota from these permits is available 
for use by sector vessels or to lease out to other sectors). The other 
permits in the sector are either active participants in other 
fisheries, or are completely inactive; all of these could begin to fish 
for groundfish, if granted permission by the sector, without a change 
to the operations plan.
    Since fishing year 2011, NEFS 9 employed Mr. Rafael's daughter, 
Stephanie Rafael-DeMello as the Sector Manager. Prior to May 30, 2017, 
Mr. Rafael was the President of NEFS 9 and held a position on the Board 
of Directors. On May 30, 2017, the sector notified us that it had 
removed Mr. Rafael from the position of President, as well as from the 
Board of Directors. A new Board of Directors was identified, including 
the Board's elected officials, with only one individual in common with 
the Board from previous years.

NEFS 9 Operations Plan Breaches

    Beyond the requirements described above to monitor and report 
catch, the NEFS 9 operations plan specifies that upon the Sector 
Manager becoming aware of an ``apparent breach'' in a member's 
compliance, the Manager will investigate. The Manager is also 
authorized to refer the matter to the sector's Enforcement Committee 
and take other actions as necessary, including potentially issuing a 
``Stop Fishing Order.'' The Manager is required to submit a weekly Trip 
Issue Report to inform us of any enforcement, or reporting compliance 
issues in the sector.
    Since Mr. Rafael's guilty plea in March 2017, we received a letter 
on May 30, 2017, from the newly elected president of NEFS 9 concerning 
matters related to Mr. Rafael's criminal acts. The letter outlined 
changes to the sector's Board of Directors, as described above, which 
is also included in the NEFS 9 operations plan. In the letter, the 
president stated that the Board notified all sector members that NEFS 9 
vessels are prohibited from using Carlos Seafood, Inc. as the primary 
buyer and reporting dealer for any landings. The letter also indicated 
that the newly constituted Enforcement Committee intended to meet to 
further discuss Mr. Rafael's criminal violations.
    On October 5, 2017, representatives of the sector requested a 
meeting with us to discuss the sector, and we met with the NEFS 9 Board 
of Directors, the Sector Manager, and representatives from the 
Northeast Seafood Coalition and the Northeast Sector Service Network 
(NESSN) on October 26, 2017. From that discussion, we learned that the 
Board of Directors, including those on the sector's newly formed 
Enforcement Committee, had met monthly since forming in May 2017. 
However, the Board of Directors indicated that no additional changes 
have been made to the operations of the sector beyond what was 
described in the May 30, 2017, letter. Similarly, the sector's annual 
Year-End Report for Fishing Year 2016, submitted on October 27, 2017, 
made reference to the steps laid out in the May 30 letter, but gave no 
indication that further steps had been taken. We have not received any 
other information from the sector.
    While the steps taken that are identified in the May 30 letter are 
potentially positive measures, they are insufficient. The sector has 
not provided sufficient background information about the new Board 
members that would help us assess their independence or ability to 
govern the sector differently to ensure compliance. NEFS 9 has not 
provided us with any information, via the Trip Issue Report or other 
means, regarding any investigation by the sector to determine if any of 
its members or vessel operators breached the operations plan agreement. 
Nor has there been any indication that the Board, Enforcement 
Committee, or Manager have taken any sector operations plan measures to 
address any breach such as imposing or putting in place any liquidated 
damages, fine, stop fishing order, expulsion, or a requirement to post 
a security bond, which are potential actions included in NEFS 9's 
operations plan. There has been no indication of whether any measures 
have been put in place to ensure compliance by any vessel operators who 
may have assisted in the misreporting. Additionally, the sector has not 
provided to us any accounting of any of the potential ACE overages or 
misallocations. Although the new Board does provide a more independent 
group to which the Manager is required to report potential violations, 
it is not clear if the sector personnel changes fully address the 
Manager's responsibility for the sector's reporting requirements, ACE 
monitoring, and monitoring sector members' compliance with the 
operations plan. Last, there have been no substantial changes in the 
NEFS 9 operations plan for fishing years 2017 and 2018 to prevent 
further misreporting by any of its members or vessel operators; 
however, we recognize that the Board prohibited NEFS 9 vessels from 
using Carlos Seafood as the primary buyer and reporting dealer for any 
landings.

NEFS 9 ACE Overages

    If a sector exceeds its ACE in any fishing year, the regulations 
require that the overage be deducted from the sector's ACE in the 
following fishing year. Based on publically available information from 
the criminal case, NEFS 9 likely exceeded its ACE for multiple 
groundfish stocks in multiple years potentially beginning in the 2012 
fishing year. Because Mr. Rafael operated as both the dealer and vessel 
owner with no independent oversight, he was able to coordinate the 
misreporting, allowing these potential overages to go undetected until 
now. The repeated ACE overages we are now aware of indicate that the 
initial allocations made to the sector at the start of the 2017 fishing 
year and likely other fishing years were artificially high. As a 
result, the sector's catch to date may already exceed what would have 
been an accurate allocation for this fishing year.
    Based on initial analysis of the misreported catch for American 
plaice and witch flounder, the magnitude of some of the ACE overages 
could be extensive. The misreported catch information for cod and 
yellowtail flounder is at a species level, and additional analysis is 
required to apportion this catch by stock area. We intend to complete 
this analysis as soon as possible to determine the full extent of any 
overages for cod and yellowtail flounder stocks. Any accountability 
measures, such as assessing and deducting ACE overages incurred by the 
sector, would be determined in a future action. Other than the public 
information we have access to from Mr. Rafael's plea agreement, NEFS 9 
has not provided any information about the nature and scope of 
misreporting that would help us to accurately administer its ACEs.

[[Page 55524]]

Disapproval of NEFS 9 Sector Operations Plan

    The Council discussed Mr. Rafael's violations and the conditional 
approval of NEFS 9 at both its June and September 2017 meetings and was 
encouraged to comment on this issue. On September 29, 2017, we received 
a letter from the Council requesting that we immediately implement the 
sector regulations and the NEFS 9 operations plan.
    Based on our review, NEFS 9 has failed to uphold sector operations 
plan requirements to a degree and extent that undermines foundational 
principles necessary for successful sector operations. Further, the 
sector's corrective measures to date are insufficient. We need more 
information and further measures are necessary to ensure that the 
sector operates in a manner that does not undermine the sector program.
    Accurate reporting, internal accountability, and organizational 
integrity are core principles of the sector system. The systematic 
sector and vessel misreporting over a long period of time was 
facilitated by an internal structure and control by a single, dominant 
participant combined with a lack of oversight. The weakness and 
vulnerability of this sector's structure was underscored by NEFS 9's 
lack of an adequate response once the scope and nature of these 
violations were revealed. To date, there appears to be persistent non-
compliance with fundamental operations plan requirements along with a 
significantly compromised structure and lack of NEFS 9 oversight. NEFS 
9's failures to manage its operations effectively appear to have led to 
repeated ACE overages, some of which may be extensive. These overages 
may be continuing this fishing year, which threatens to continue 
undermining the sector system and its fishing mortality and 
conservation controls.
    Without further information or revisions to its operations plan, we 
are not confident that the operations plan contains measures that would 
provide us with current accurate information or ensure compliance with 
the operations plan to prevent and address future misreporting or ACE 
overages. The sector has not provided us with information of any action 
it has taken to investigate its members' compliance with the sector 
operations plan or any measures to address breaches of its plan. The 
sector has not provided any information to help us corroborate the 
nature and scope of the false information provided to us and its effect 
on the sector's ACEs. The sector has not provided us with any 
information about the nature and scope of vessel operator cooperation 
with the non-compliance, or how the sector can be assured the operators 
are acting in compliance with the operations plan now. The sector has 
made no new proposals about any new compliance measures or provided any 
information about actions taken by their new Enforcement Committee.
    NEFS 9 has failed its primary responsibility of accurately 
reporting and tracking its catch and has taken only minimal, 
insufficient steps to ensure accurate reporting and compliance with its 
operations plan. This includes addressing the fraudulent catch within 
the sector over multiple years and for multiple stocks to ensure the 
sector has proper ACE allocations, which may require deducting ACE 
overages the sector has incurred. As a result, continuation of the 
sector operations plan will undermine achievement of fishing mortality 
and management objectives of the Northeast Multispecies FMP. Therefore, 
we are withdrawing approval of the NEFS 9 sector operations plan until 
a complete and successful accounting of what happened is provided and 
steps are taken to ensure the sector will operate within its operations 
plan. We intend to work with NEFS 9 to address their operations plan 
issues, which we expect will take considerable time and will require 
additional correspondence and meetings after publication of this rule.

Timing of Withdrawing Approval and Approval

    Effective November 20, 2017, approval of the NEFS 9 operation plan 
is withdrawn. The sector ACE remains allocated to NEFS 9, and this 
action does not reallocate the ACE to other sectors or to the common 
pool. Without an approved operations plan, NEFS 9 is prohibited from 
transferring ACE to or from other sectors. Vessels that were enrolled 
in NEFS 9 during this fishing year are prohibited from: (1) Fishing on 
a sector trip and harvesting sector ACE; (2) fishing on a common pool 
trip; or (3) joining another sector. If a vessel enrolled in NEFS 9 has 
declared a sector trip, and is at sea on November 20, 2017, it must 
return to port immediately; the vessel is permitted to offload its 
catch for sale. Also, we will work with individual vessels that had 
previously set gillnet gear, to haul the gear as soon as practicable. 
Vessels that are able to fish under other permits, without declaring a 
sector trip or using a multispecies day-at-sea, can continue to do so.
    If NEFS 9 submits a new operations plan, we would attempt to 
conduct a review and complete a rulemaking as expeditiously as 
practicable. Before we could approve a new operations plan for NEFS 9, 
the sector must provide us with critical information about steps taken 
to comply with operations plan requirements and ensure steps are taken 
to address the organizational and operational issues that facilitated 
the false reporting. Vessels currently enrolled in NEFS 9 may opt to 
participate in the common pool or enroll in a different sector for the 
2018 fishing year, as sector rosters are set annually.

Comments and Responses

    We are accepting comments on this interim final rule. In response 
to the previous interim final rule approving 19 sectors (April 28, 
2017; 82 FR 19618), we received eight comments relating to the 
provisional approval of NEFS 9 for the 2017 and 2018 fishing years. The 
comments came from Associated Fisheries of Maine (AFM), NEFS 9, NESSN, 
Portland Fish Exchange (PFEX), Sustainable Harvest Sector (SHS), two 
industry members, and one anonymous commenter.

Provisional Approval of NEFS 9 Operations Plan

    Comment 1: NESSN commented that NMFS approval of NEFS 9 was 
appropriate at that time given the ongoing legal proceedings against a 
sector member and not the sector itself.
    Other comments from AFM, PFEX, SHS, two industry members, and one 
anonymous commenter disagreed, stating that NEFS 9's operations plan 
should not have been approved for Fishing Years 2017 and 2018 given the 
admitted crimes of NEFS 9 sector member, Mr. Rafael. Several of these 
commenters elaborated on measures included in the sector operations 
plan that the sector may not have complied with or enforced after it 
learned of Mr. Rafael's actions, and that the sector should be held 
accountable to the actions outlined in their plan. Some also stated 
that NMFS' actions were inadequate in this case and that 100 percent 
monitoring for NEFS 9 may be appropriate.
    Response: We agree that, at the time, provisional approval of the 
NEFS 9 operations plan was appropriate given that sentencing for the 
criminal violations was not complete and may have provided additional 
information. In the interim final rule, we noted that once sentencing 
is complete, we would consider all of the available information to 
determine whether any management action is necessary, including 
additional

[[Page 55525]]

management measures or withdrawal of NEFS 9 approval.
    Based on all of the available information, and now that sentencing 
is complete, we have determined that NEFS 9 failed and continues to 
fail to uphold the requirements of its operations plan. This non-
compliance likely contributed to extensive overages of the sector's 
allocation for multiple groundfish stocks in multiple fishing years. 
The degree and extent of NEFS 9's failure to uphold its operations plan 
requirements undermines the foundational principles necessary for 
successful sector operations. As a result, we determined that NEFS 9 
cannot continue to operate until and unless we receive sufficient 
information concerning the scope and nature of the operations plan 
breaches, actions taken by the sector in response to the breaches in 
accordance with operations plan requirements, and actions that will 
ensure the sector currently is operating in compliance with its 
operations plan and within its ACEs. This includes addressing the 
fraudulent catch within the sector over multiple years and for multiple 
stocks to ensure the sector has proper ACE allocations, which may 
require deducting ACE overages the sector has incurred. We intend to 
work with NEFS 9 to address its operations plan issues and will 
determine the measures necessary for ensuring that the sector's 
operations are appropriate and sufficient for accurately monitoring and 
reporting sector catch.
    Accurate reporting, accountability, and organizational integrity 
are core principles of the sector system. In this case, NEFS 9 failed 
its primary responsibilities. Systematic misreporting over multiple 
fishing years, a failure to abide by, and enforce, sector operations 
plan requirements, and the internal structure of NEFS 9 were all 
contributing factors to the persistent non-compliance of NEFS 9 
operations plan requirements and likely to extensive ACE overages. 
Because NEFS 9 has not sufficiently addressed all of these contributing 
factors, its continued approval under the current operations plan is 
likely not adequate to prevent and address continued, or future, 
misreporting, or non-compliance by any of its members, and would 
undermine the conservation and management objectives of the Northeast 
Multispecies FMP.

Forfeiture of Permits Held by Carlos Rafael

    Comment 2: AFM, PFEX, and two members of the industry stated that 
Mr. Rafael should no longer be allowed to participate in the groundfish 
fishery and that all his permits should be relinquished.
    Response: As discussed earlier in this rule, Mr. Rafael was 
sentenced to 46 months of prison, 3 years of supervised release, 
assessed a $200,000 fine, and required to pay $108,929 restitution. On 
October 11, 2017, the U.S. District Court also ordered the forfeiture 
of Mr. Rafael's interest in four of 13 vessels involved in the criminal 
case. There may be management implications from this forfeiture that 
may need to be included in the NEFS 9 operations plan. We intend to 
discuss potential implications, if any, with NEFS 9.
    This is not an enforcement action, and does not impose civil 
penalties, permit sanctions, or forfeitures. Any civil penalties or 
permit sanctions may be imposed only after adequate notice and an 
opportunity for a hearing before an administrative law judge in 
accordance with NOAA's civil procedure regulations. This rule 
withdrawing approval of the NEFS 9 operations plan is administrative in 
nature, and addresses the sector requirements of the FMP and the 
sector's operations plan. If NEFS 9 continues to operate under its 
current operations plan with only the minimal changes it has proposed, 
it will undermine conservation and management objectives of the FMP.
    This disapproval of the current NEFS 9 operations plan in this 
action relates only to the sector operations plan and the sector's 
ability to operate without undermining the sector system. Without an 
approved operations plan, all of the vessels currently enrolled in NEFS 
9 will be unable to operate in the groundfish fishery for the remainder 
of the 2017 fishing year. Unless there is an additional enforcement 
action that affects the vessels' permits, the sector vessels may 
continue to operate in accordance with their non-groundfish permits. 
For the 2018 fishing year, these vessels could opt to fish in the 
common pool, or enroll in a sector with an approved operations plan. If 
NEFS 9 submits, and we approve, a new operations plan that addresses 
the serious management concerns discussed throughout this rule and that 
ensures the sector could operate without undermining the objectives of 
the Northeast Multispecies FMP, the vessels could re-enroll in NEFS 9.

Changes to NEFS 9 Operations

    Comment 3: NEFS 9 submitted a letter outlining the changes it made 
in response to the pending criminal case. NEFS 9 removed Mr. Rafael 
from its Board of Directors and elected a new Board, created a new 
Enforcement Committee, and decided not to allow sector members to sell 
catch to Carlos Seafood, Inc. as a primary buyer.
    Response: We acknowledge these actions; however, they are 
insufficient by themselves. There are numerous issues that must be 
addressed as noted in this rule that we have begun to address with the 
sector. We expect to continue to discuss these issues with NEFS 9 
during the approval process for any new operations plan.

Classification

    The NMFS Assistant Administrator (AA) has determined that this 
interim final rule is consistent with the Northeast Multispecies FMP, 
other provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, and other applicable law.
    This interim final rule is exempt from review under Executive Order 
12866 because this action contains no implementing regulations.
    The interim final rule approving 19 sectors, including NEFS 9, 
provided an opportunity for the public to comment on the provisional 
approval of the NEFS 9 operations plan. The interim final rule 
specified that we would consider further action, including 
consideration of further management or monitoring requirements and 
continued approval of the sector. Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B), the 
AA finds that prior notice and the opportunity for public comment would 
be contrary to the public interest. The purpose of this action is to 
withdraw approval for a previously approved and currently operating 
sector. We have determined that NEFS 9 and its members are not 
complying with the requirements of the operations plan, and that the 
operations plan is not sufficient to address the serious management 
issues described earlier in this preamble. The time it would take for 
prior notice and opportunity for public comment would allow the sector 
to continue to operate under a failed operations plan that is not 
consistent with the management and conservation objectives of the FMP. 
We need further information to determine the full nature and extent of 
any ACE overages and how they will affect NEFS 9 operations. The likely 
ACE overages that occurred, possibly beginning in the 2012 fishing 
year, suggest that the initial allocations made to NEFS 9 at the start 
of this fishery year may be artificially high. As a result, the 
sector's catch to date may already exceed what would have been an 
accurate allocation for this fishing year. Allowing the sector to 
proceed without an accurate accounting of known misreporting will 
undermine effective management of the sector program and could further 
undermine fishing mortality objectives of the FMP.

[[Page 55526]]

Further, providing the participants in the sector with advanced notice 
of the disapproval by delaying the effective date would create an 
incentive for sector members to harvest or lease out as much of the 
sector's quota as possible, while operating under an operations plan 
that we have determined undermines the objectives of the Northeast 
Multispecies FMP.
    Additionally, the AA finds there is good cause under 5 U.S.C. 
553(d)(3), to waive the 30-day delay in effectiveness so that the 
purpose of this rule is not undermined. As stated above, the purpose of 
this action is prevent a sector from fishing under a sector operations 
plan that has been determined to undermine the objectives of the FMP, 
and that may be fishing under allocations that are artificially high 
considering the potential ACE overages that have occurred since 2012. A 
delay in the implementation of this rule would allow the sector to 
continue to operate under an operations plan that is determined to have 
not adequately ensured accurate reporting or compliance, and that the 
sector has failed to enforce. A delay in implementation would also 
increase the likelihood of additional ACE overages for NEFS 9 since its 
initial allocations for the 2017 fishing year does not include any 
adjustments for previous overages. As a result, continued operation of 
the sector further jeopardizes the objectives of the FMP and increases 
the likelihood that additional quota overages may occur.
    This interim final rule does not contain policies with Federalism 
or ``takings'' implications as those terms are defined in E.O. 13132 
and E.O. 12630, respectively.
    This interim final rule is exempt from the procedures of the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act because the rule is issued without 
opportunity for prior notice and opportunity for public comment.

    Authority:  16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

    Dated: November 17, 2017.
Samuel D. Rauch III,
Deputy Assistant Administrator for Regulatory Programs, National Marine 
Fisheries Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25299 Filed 11-20-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 3510-22-P