Global research trends and innovation pathways in trap fisheries from 2000 to 2025: a bibliometric analysis

This study examined global research trends and innovation pathways in trap fisheries using bibliometric indicators from Scopus-indexed publications between 2000 and 2025. 605 strongly relevant journal articles were retained for bibliometric analysis. Trap fisheries research has expanded steadily over the time period, with an annual growth rate of 4.93%, involving 2,090 authors across 205 publication sources. Thematic analysis indicated that trap fisheries research was mainly concentrated on species composition and biodiversity, trap design and fishing technology, habitat and ecosystem impacts, monitoring and data analytics, and fisheries management. In contrast, more specific themes such as bycatch mitigation, gear selectivity, ghost fishing, and fyke-net or set-net fisheries were less represented, although they are increasingly relevant in recent studies.