China, as the world’s largest producer, trader, and consumer of aquatic foods, lacks comprehensive research on consumption patterns and willingness to pay for sustainable aquatic food. This study addressed this gap through an online survey of 3403 participants across Chinese provinces. A majority of consumers (34.7% of the participants) consume aquatic food twice or more per week, mainly from traditional markets (26%). Most prefer fresh or live products (76%), with 42% seeing no difference between farmed and wild options. Consumption is higher among older, affluent, urban, and coastal residents. Crustaceans, especially shrimp, are frequently consumed species, with growing interest in luxury species like salmon and abalone. Taste and quality emerge as the primary factors motivating consumer choices in aquatic food purchases. Food safety is the primary concern, followed by environmental impact. Notably, 92.4% of participants would pay extra for certified products. Factors influencing a higher willingness to pay include higher income, inland residence, price sensitivity, origin consciousness, and concerns about food safety and the environment. The findings highlight that China’s aquatic food industry and consumption can become more sustainable by aligning with consumer preferences for high-quality and diverse aquatic food through both production and import, while also addressing concerns related to food safety and environmental impact. This research provides valuable insights into China’s rapidly transforming aquatic food market landscape, offering implications for industry innovation and the promotion of sustainable consumption patterns.

Aquaculture is the fastest-growing food production sector globally. As its largest producer, China plays a pivotal role in ensuring aquatic food supply and supporting the blue economy. Despite its massive scale, a systematic understanding of the geographic distribution, structural composition, and drivers of China’s aquaculture value chain remains limited. We comprehensively characterized the sector’s composition, spatiotemporal evolution, and structural dynamics. We compiled and analyzed over 2.85 million enterprise registration records from the TianYanCha database, applying rigorous industry classification, spatial mapping, correlation analysis, and bottleneck assessment with natural and socioeconomic variables. Results show that policy reforms, notably the 2013 Company Law amendment and 2016 aquaculture certification measures, drove sharp increases in enterprise registrations, particularly in retail and farming. Enterprises are highly clustered in the Yangtze River Basin, Pearl River Delta, and southeastern coast, with inland expansion along major river systems. Strong interdependencies exist among sectors, while wholesale remains numerically scarce, forming a structural bottleneck. Standardization levels are low. Foreign investment, though under 5%, concentrated in processing and distribution, contributed to advanced technologies in the 1990s–2000s. These findings highlight rapid formalization, regional clustering, and structural imbalances, suggesting that enhancing formalization and addressing intermediary bottlenecks could improve sector resilience and efficiency.