From Digitalization to Intelligentization: How Do Marine Ranches Evolve?

Under China’s diversified food supply strategy and the accelerated modernization of its fisheries sector, marine ranches have become vital food sources and production bases. Their digital–intelligent transformation now represents a key pathway to improve resource efficiency, ensure food security, and promote sustainable marine economic development. Adopting a qualitative research design, this study examines China’s marine ranches using the TOE framework and a systemic grounded theory approach to identify key elements and evolutionary logic of their digital–intelligent transformation from multi-source qualitative data. It constructs a three-stage evolutionary model comprising “Technology and Facility Capacity Building Phase–Digital Resource Integration and Application Deepening Phase–Multi-stakeholder Collaboration and Systemic Governance Phase,” revealing the dynamic coupling mechanism among technological progress, organizational change, and environmental adaptation. Results indicate that the digital–intelligent transformation of marine ranches represents a systemic transition from technology-driven to collaborative governance, characterized by platform-based collaboration, factor restructuring, and institutional linkage. Based on these findings, this study proposes tiered policy and practice recommendations emphasizing institutional guidance by governments, innovation investments by enterprises, and ecological support from third-party platforms. The research not only expands the application scope of the TOE framework but also provides an applicable theoretical framework and policy reference for digital governance and sustainable development in marine fisheries.