This work proposes an adaptive regional control for underwater vehicle-manipulator systems, addressing practical challenges such as manipulator interference and environmental uncertainties. For the vehicle’s attitude stabilization control problem, the pitch and yaw attitude targets of the vehicle are tracked within predefined regions. The proposed controller integrates an adaptive sliding mode control scheme with a bio-inspired model to mitigate flutter effects at region boundaries. This bio-inspired model enhances control performance by generating smooth and bounded outputs. The dynamic region control approach also contributes to energy efficiency by reducing energy consumption during operations. Theoretical analysis based on Lyapunov stability confirms the asymptotic stability of the regional control error. Finally, simulation validates the effectiveness and robustness of the proposed control strategy.