The historical development of a fisheries management paradigm from the biological to the bioeconomic approach is traced and the types of research questions motivated by each are identified. A new paradigm is proposed which, in addition to the fish stock and the fishing industry, includes the institutional structure that produces, implements, and enforces management regulations. This broadening allows for questions such as, “Why do we get the types of regulations we do and what can be done to improve things?” in addition to the standard research question, “What type of regulation will work best, all else being equal?”