Fisheries management is increasingly involving a wide range of stakeholders in the decision making process. An implicit assumption in these management structures is that stakeholder representatives present a unified view, and that these views combine to derive optimal management decisions that best satisfy all stakeholders. In this paper, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is used to determine the objective preference structure of stakeholder representatives involved in Australian Commonwealth fisheries management. The results indicate that there is generally low coherence within stakeholder groups, suggesting that management decision making is a function more of the set of individuals than the stakeholder groups they represent. The stakeholders represented were from policy and management, science, industry, environment, economics, social science and recreation.