The problem of regulating the use of natural resources in the coastal zone of Russia can largely be solved by creating and adopting a national cadastre of marine coasts. Despite years of discussions and some practical steps, it has not yet been established. The aim of the work is to consider the evolution of views on the purpose and content of a cadastre of Russian marine coasts, to highlight the current state of its creation in general for Russia and for the Crimean Peninsula in particular. We used literary sources, departmental reports, materials of various meetings and monitoring observations. There are two stages in setting up the problem of creating a cadastre. There were virtually single scientific publications on the subject in between. The first stage is characterized by maximum cadastre requirements. Whereas in the second stage, there was a marked shift in focus from filling the cadastre with data on natural processes to environmental and socio-economic aspects. Since the coastline of Russia is almost equal to the equator length and most of it lies in remote areas with a harsh climate, the creation of a unified cadastre does not seem real in the nearest future. It is therefore reasonable to focus on the compilation of cadastres for specific areas that are of great economic importance, such as the Black and Baltic Seas. In this context, we introduce for the first time the initial experience and results of compiling a cadastral survey of the Crimean coastline (1986–1988) into academic discourse and a GIS developed by us, discussing them in detail. Creation of a coastal cadastre for Crimea is of significant scientific and practical importance, as it will allow systematization and analysis of data on the status, morphology and dynamics of the coastal zone of the peninsula and serve as a tool to prevent natural and technological risks as well as promote sustainable development of Crimea.