Abstract: Marine protected areas (MPAs) have achieved remarkable results in both protecting marine biodiversity and preventing marine ecological deterioration in China. However, the ecological benefits of MPAs have not been effectively transformed into social and economic benefits, which sets great obstacles to the development of traditional fishing villages in protected areas. Because of its unique advantages in economy, society, and ecology, the recreational fishery has become the key to high-quality development of marine protected areas and the revitalization of fishing villages. This paper first introduced recreational fishery from its definition, the current situation at home and abroad, and development styles. Then it analyzed the feasibility and necessity of developing recreational fishery by looking at resource endowment, functional orientation, and practical difficulties of MPAs. By analyzing the current situations in different types of MPAs, this paper argued that the development of recreational fishery in China's MPAs has been faced with the problems of unbalanced layouts, mistaken identification of fishermen, lack of industrial chain, and absence of "fisheries’ culture", which makes recreational fishery still in the primary stage. Therefore, this paper proposed several strategies on high-quality development of recreational fisheries so as to revitalize fishing villages within MPAs. Instead of being a source of contradictions, the construction of MPAs should serve as an opportunity for the revitalization of traditional fishing villages.