The “new institutional economics” has influenced the study of public (or policy) choice, e.g. via the organization and incentives of “stakeholders”, and the analysis of international and other (e.g. state-private) agreements. Stakeholders in fisheries policy include fisherman and their families and communities, processors, scientists, environmentalists, fish product consumers, other (non-fishing-)marine, coastal and land users, government fisheries departments, and taxpayers. These play different roles, with different weights, in policy discussions, as shown in the reformed Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) of the European Union. The recently set up North Sea Regional Advisory Committee is used as an illustration. Conclusions suggest that successful governance of capture fisheries requires state intervention via a multi-level hierarchy, clear property rights, better information, and probably stronger monitoring or control of technology and fishing behavior.