Welcome to the Institute of Coastal Research

Knowledge for healthy coastal ecosystems

The Institute of Coastal Research conducts national and regional fish monitoring along the Swedish coasts, from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Skagerrak. We monitor the development of fish communities, as fish is an important environmental indicator and reveals the status of the coastal environment. We collect, quality assure and store data on fish in our in openly accessible databases.

We use data from fish communities to understand the role of fish in the ecosystem and develop advice for ecosystem-based fisheries management. We provide data for marine planning and protected areas by habitat mapping and spatial analysis. A large part of our advice is the basis for decisions for the Swedish Agency for Marine and Water Management, SvAM.

We study the biological effects intake and discharge of cooling water at all Swedish nuclear power plants.

Research solving concrete problems - and future challenges

In our research, we focus on both the condition and composition of individual fish stocks and on the dynamics of the entire coastal ecosystem. We study how climate change affects fish communities, and how fish size and growth affect everything from the interaction between individuals to entire food webs and how they are affected by fishing.

We work with interactions between fishing, birds and mammals, investigate the effects of seals and cormorants on coastal ecosystems, and develop selective gear for small-scale coastal fishing.

In close connection with our research, we educate future researchers, fish ecologists and environmental analysts.

Collaborate with us

We want our knowledge to be useful and have an impact, and it is equally important for us to get influences and ideas from the outside world.

The Institute of Coastal Research collaborates with all major Swedish universities, a dozen international universities, fisheries and marine environment institutes around the Baltic Sea and international bodies such as HELCOM and the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, ICES. Cooperation also takes place with national and regional authorities, as well as with NGO`s and the fishing industry.

Please contact us if you are interested in collaborating with or working with us.

Research facilities at the Institute of Coastal Research:

• We are the leading department in Sweden in age and growth analysis of fish. Our age laboratories annually determine the age of over 10,000 coastal fish as part of the Swedish environmental monitoring.

• At the Fisheries Research Station in Älvkarleby breeding and research is conducted on farmed salmon and trout, and the station produce approximately 140,000 salmon and trout per year for release into the River Dalälven.

• At the nuclear plant Forsmark, there is a research facility - the Biotest basin - where we examine the relationship between water temperature and biological processes and how warmer water affects plants and animals.