As a significant component of the national economy， the marine fishing industry exerts a certain influence on high-quality economic development， with its excessive carbon emissions impeding resource sustainability and sustained economic growth. Given its substantial impact on global warming and environmental sustainability through notable carbon emissions， the marine fishing industry is inherently linked to the green， low-carbon， circular， and sustainable development model being advanced in the context of high-quality economic development. This paper thus aims to investigate the interrelationship between carbon emission efficiency in China's marine fishing industry and high-quality economic development， providing a foundation for their synergistic advancement. Utilizing panel data from 2010 to 2019 across 11 coastal provinces （municipalities） in China， the study employs the Slack-Based Measure-Data Envelopment Analysis （SBM-DEA） model to analyze carbon emission efficiency， assesses overall economic development quality through an integrated evaluation model， constructs a coupling coordination model to reveal the degree of coupling coordination and regional disparities between the two， and identifies key constraining factors via a barrier degree model. The findings reveal that carbon emission efficiency in the marine fishing industry falls below the DEA efficiency frontier in most coastal regions； there exists uneven development among the primary indicators of high-quality economic development； although the coupling coordination between the marine fishing industry and high-quality economic development has improved， it remains at an intermediate stage overall； major barriers include irrational growth in the industry's output value， insufficient numbers of fisheries extension institutions， inadequate innovation investment， and low technological market activity. The study recommends optimizing resource allocation and technological upgrading， promoting balanced regional development， and comprehensively planning for the synergetic advancement of the marine fishing industry and high-quality economic development， with a particular focus on addressing the four principal challenges of irrational output structure， shortages in fisheries extension institutions， insufficient innovation investment， and lack of technological market vitality.