This is one of a series of reports summarizing the year's activities of the Fisheries Resource Conservation Council and making recommendations on Atlantic groundfish conservation for the 1997 fishing season. The first chapter summarizes the Council's consultation process in developing those recommendations, the principles on which its conservation strategy is based, and general Council activities. Chapter two discusses conservation issues that fall outside stock-by-stock recommendations, such as capacity management, harvesting plans, by-catch, attitudinal changes, and predatory-prey relationships. Chapter three outlines the Council's strategy and criteria for re-opening closed fisheries and maintaining a sustainable fishery. Chapter four, the largest, details conservation recommendations for individual stocks of such species as cod, haddock, plaice, flounder, and halibut. Appendices include summaries of consultations on groundfish, gear technology, fishery re-opening, and Georges Bank fisheries.