The article comprehensively analyzed the backward status of fishing vessel equipment in China, which failed to meet the general requirement of modern fishery construction nor the urgent need to upgrade the marine strategic position. It elaborated four contradictions in fishing vessel equipment upgrading, namely the contraction between resource conservation and serious overcapacity in marine fishing, between the weakness of fishery organizations and the demand for the upgrading of fishing vessels, between the increasing of fishermen’s income and the investment in fishing vessel renovation, as well as between the low professional level of fishermen and the promotion of new technologies. Then it explained the potential effects of upgrading fishing vessel equipment in promoting industrial transformation and upgrading, expanding domestic demand growth, safeguarding national marine rights and interests, developing high seas fishery resources, enhancing disaster prevention and mitigation capacity, ensuring fishery production safety, promoting fisheries energy-saving and emission reduction, as well as in creating a conservation-oriented society. Finally it proposed several measures to promote and realize the upgrading of fishing vessel equipment, including to implement and improve fishing vessel policies and administrations, to promote innovation in the operation mode for fishing equipment technology upgrading, and to strengthen research and development capacity in fishing vessel design and construction.