Surface sediment samples from 31 stations in Jinhae Bay were analyzed to evaluate the pollution by sewage from the spatial distribution of the fecal sterol, coprostanol. The sums of eight sterols (coprostanol, epicholestanol, epicoprostanol, cholesterol. cholestanol, brassicasterol, stigmasterol and β-sitosterol) were in the range of 2,703-27,154 ng/g dry weight. The concentrations of the coprostanol in the sediments, which is a good tracer of sewage-derived organic contamination, were in the range of 76-3,964 ng/g dry weight. The levels of coprostanol were much higher (almost one order of magnitude) at stations close to the big cities such as Masan and Jinhae. However, those levels were comparable to or lower than those previously reported in other foreign locations. Some ratios of coprostanol to other sterols and multivariate analysis could provide us with the information on the origin of the sterols being from sewage, plankton, and/or benthos. Those showed sewage dominance at the stations near the cities Masan and Jinhae, plankton dominance at the center of Jinhae Bay and mainly marine fauna origin at the mouth of Jinhae Bay. These results suggest that the contents of sterols and some ratios of these components are quite powerful tracer for the detection of the origin of the organic contaminants in the coastal environments.