Difference between 沿岸, 海岸, 沿海


What is the difference between these words? Which one is the most common?




岸 means "shore", or the _land_ along the edge of a sea, lake, etc. Therefore
海岸 is "seashore", the _land_ along the sea. There is also 河岸 "riverside". 海岸
filled with sand is called 砂浜 "beach".

沿岸 literally means "along-the-shore", and it vaguely refers to the area (both
the _land_ and the _sea_ ) near 海岸. We say both 沿岸農業 "coastal agriculture" and
沿岸漁業 "coastal fishery".

沿海 is a much more uncommon word. The "dictionary" definition is not different
from that of 沿岸, but it has some specific uses in some fields. For example, in
the airline industry, 沿海区域 is defined as the _sea_ area within 20 nautical
miles from the coast.

