Background Centered on technological innovation and factor reconfiguration, new-quality productive forces have put forward brand-new requirements for the professional layout, skill cultivation, and industry-education collaboration of marine-related vocational education. As a major maritime province, Fujian has ranked third in China in terms of marine gross domestic product for 10 consecutive years. However, marine-related vocational education in Fujian faces a structural shortcoming of "weak majors adapting to new-quality productive forces". The insufficient supply of talents for emerging positions such as offshore wind power operation and maintenance, and marine carbon sink monitoring has restricted the high-quality development of the marine economy.

Methods This study adopts a comprehensive research method combining “literature review, inter-provincial comparison, and empirical investigation”. By analyzing the adaptability between new-quality productive forces and vocational education, it compares the enrollment professional catalogs and talent training programs of marine-related vocational colleges in Fujian, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces to identify inter-provincial differences; based on the survey data of 93 marine-related enterprises in Fujian Province, it accurately identifies the shortcomings of vocational education services; then, combined with the actual development of Fujian's marine economy, it proposes a construction adaptation path.

Conclusions The study found four prominent problems in Fujian's marine-related vocational education: first, the professional layout is disconnected from industrial needs; second, the depth of technology integration is insufficient; third, the level of industry-education collaboration is relatively shallow, lacking in-depth cooperation in talent co-cultivation and technology co-research between industry and education; fourth, teachers and training conditions are restrictive, with a significant gap in investment in high-end training equipment. The new-quality transformation of Fujian's marine economy has an urgent demand for digital, intelligent, and green skilled talents, and vocational education needs to achieve precise adaptation through systematic reforms: first, optimize the professional layout and add characteristic professional directions such as deep-sea aquaculture intelligent technology and marine carbon sink measurement; second, deepen industry-education integration and build a “government-school-enterprise” collaborative education community; third, strengthen teacher and fund guarantees, and implement a three-dimensional improvement plan for “double-qualified” teachers and a diversified investment mechanism; fourth, promote regional collaboration and integrate cross-provincial training resources and teaching standards. The research aims to provide skilled talent support for the construction of “Maritime Fujian” and offer a “Fujian model” for the coordinated development of marine economy and vocational education nationwide.