The development of marine new quality productive forces and the enhancement of marine economic resilience are critical strategies for cultivating new drivers and advantages for high-quality and sustainable development in the marine sector. In order to deeply explore the relationship between these two constructs, this study selected panel data from 11 coastal provinces from 2007 to 2021 to construct an indicator system for MNQPFs and marine economic resilience, conducted scientific calculations and analysis, and, finally, used a two-way fixed effect model for empirical analysis and the instrumental variable method for robustness testing. The key findings are as follows: (1) The level of marine new quality productive forces (MNQPFs) in coastal areas demonstrates considerable spatial variability. The spatial distribution of MNQPF levels in the Bohai Sea and South China Sea regions is similar, whereas the levels in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea region demonstrate better balance. (2) A regional analysis of marine economic resilience indicates that the Bohai Sea region demonstrates a weak development trend and the South China Sea region demonstrates an unbalanced development trend, while the Yellow Sea and East China Sea region demonstrates a favorable development trend. (3) MNQPFs significantly improve marine economic resilience, including both its resistance and evolution abilities; the positive impact of marine new quality productive forces on the marine economic resilience’s recovery ability exhibits a time lag effect. (4) Heterogeneous results demonstrate that the positive impact of MNQPFs on marine economic resilience varies according to the level of marine economic development in different coastal areas, with a more significant promoting effect in less developed areas. Therefore, adaptively accelerating the development of marine new quality productive forces according to local conditions by effectively utilizing the unique resource endowments of each coastal area is essential for continuously strengthening marine economic resilience. This study can enrich research in the field of marine economics and provide references for marine economic development in coastal areas.

Agricultural production trusteeship (APT) represents an innovative model of agricultural socialized services in which specialized service organizations provide scaled operations to smallholders without transferring land rights. It can effectively address rural labor shortages while contributing to China’s grain security and agricultural modernization by improving production efficiency and promoting more sustainable resource allocation. Using survey data from farm households across six Shandong cities, this study applies an Ordered Probit model to examine how off-farm employment influences farmers’ adoption of APT, together with its underlying mechanisms and heterogeneous patterns. The results show that a higher share of household labor engaged in off-farm employment is associated with a higher probability of APT adoption. This association is stronger under flexible employment model and weaker as the location of off-farm work becomes more distant. Mechanism analysis shows capital endowment mediates the association between off-farm employment and APT adoption, with physical capital having the strongest effect and economic capital the weakest. Higher risk perception weakens the positive effect of off-farm employment on farmers’ adoption of APT. These findings provide novel evidence and practical policy implications for improving APT implementation and facilitating smallholders’ effective participation in modern agricultural production systems.