Gunnar Thoresson
National Board of Fisheries, Institute of Coastal Research, Gamla Slipvägen 19, S-740 71 Öregrund, Sweden.

Key words: coastal fisheries, catch statistics, Baltic Sea.

Abstract.
The development of Swedish coastal fisheries in the 20th century is reviewed. Great changes occurred during the fifties, when the market for herring began its still continmuing decline. It is, however, still important for the fisheries in most coastal regions. Differences in the species composition along the long Swedish Baltic coast are reflected in the fisheries. In the Baltic proper eel constitutes the backbone of the economy of most fishermen due to its high price. In this basin there are large underexploited resources of freshwater fishes, e.g. perch and pike. In the Bothnian Sea whitefish and salmon are dominant in the fisheries and vendece in the Gulf of Bothnia. Whewn the year-classes are strong, cod is fished for along the coasts of the Baltic proper and the Bothnian Sea.
In the coastal zone the first resources are shared between different user groups. It is notable that for most freshwater species recreational fishing is of at least the same magnitude, if not bigger than, as the commercial fishing. The basic instruments of control and the prerequisites for a rational development of the coastal fisheries are discussed.