Background Fujian Province is one of the most potential coastal provinces for fishery development. Conducting a comprehensive evaluation of fishery development quality has great significance for promoting high-quality development of fisheries.

Objective This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the fishery development quality in different cities of Fujian Province, exploring effective ways to improve the overall quality of fishery development.

Methods Based on the panel data of nine cities’ fishery development in Fujian from 2017 to 2022, this paper constructed an integrated evaluation index system from four dimensions for the quality of fishery development in various cities of Fujian. Using the entropy weighted TOPSIS method, the quality of fishery development in various cities was measured.

Results The fishery development quality evaluation index of different cities was quite different in the two dimensions of production benefits and technology. In terms of production benefits, the coastal evaluation index of Fuzhou, Xiamen, Quanzhou, Zhangzhou and Ningde was much higher than the inland cities of Sanming, Nanping and Longyan. In terms of technology, Fuzhou, Xiamen and Quanzhou, the gathering cities of colleges and universities, ranked highly in the index. For the single city, Fuzhou was the city with the highest quality in fisheries development in Fujian Province; Xiamen and Quanzhou ranked the second, with promising future in fisheries; Zhangzhou, Putian, and Ningde cities were located in inland areas, then their overall level of quality development in fisheries was not high.

Conclusion There were differences in the quality of fishery development in various cities in Fujian Province, and the differences were increasing. Based on the advantages and disadvantages of the fishery development in various cities, it is proposed to construct a “one core, two wings, three points, and three regions” development pattern with Fuzhou City as the “core”, Xiamen and Quanzhou cities as the “wings”, Zhangzhou, Putian, and Ningde cities as the “driving points”, and Sanming, Nanping, and Longyan cities as the main areas of freshwater fisheries. In addition, it is suggested to extend the fisheries industry chain.

Significance  This article provides a reference and help for comprehensively and quantitatively evaluating the quality of fishery development in various cities in Fujian Province, putting forward development strategies based on local conditions, and promoting high-quality development and advancement of fisheries in Fujian Province.