How does industrial intelligence affect the ecological efficiency of China's mariculture industry? Empirical analysis...

Exploring new pathways for the growth of output in the mariculture industry and its alignment with environmentally coordinated and sustainable development has become an urgent task. Against the backdrop of the new technological revolution, the burgeoning development of industrial intelligence offers new opportunities for enhancing the ecological efficiency of China's mariculture. Based on panel data from coastal provinces of China from 2008 to 2022, this paper measures the ecological efficiency of mariculture while comprehensively considering both positive and negative externalities of the industry. This article further investigates the impact of industrial intelligence on the ecological efficiency of mariculture, delves into the role mechanism of industrial upgrading in this context, and explores the issue of regional heterogeneity. The results indicate that, regardless of the inclusion of control variables or fixed effects, industrial intelligence has a significant positive effect on the ecological efficiency of China's mariculture. The promotion effect is strongest in the Bohai Rim economic zone, followed by the Pan-Pearl River Delta economic zone. Furthermore, industrial upgrading serves as a crucial mediating channel through which industrial intelligence exerts its impact. Specifically, industrial intelligence enhances ecological efficiency by facilitating the continuous advancement of the industry towards higher-level and more rational structural configurations.