Historical ties shape fisheries research in West Africa
Peixoto Macedo, Thais (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Colonese, André Carlo (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Back, Henrique de Medeiros (Universidade Federal do Rio Grande. Instituto de Matemática, Estatística e Física)
Ziveri, Patrizia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Biologia Animal, de Biologia Vegetal i d'Ecologia)

Data:	2026
Resum:	Marine fisheries, including industrial and small-scale fisheries, are a crucial sector for the food security and livelihoods of coastal communities in West Africa, as well as for global fish exports. Despite its significant social, economic and ecological impact, fisheries research in West Africa has been underrepresented in global fishery science and not aligned with the local needs. This study aimed to provide a comprehensive regional and country-specific analyses of fisheries science in West Africa through bibliometric and Large Language Models approaches based on 568 publications. Our results indicate that research is unevenly distributed in terms of both the countries contributing to it and the geographical areas covered. South Africa and Senegal are the main research hubs on fisheries, while significant gaps persist along the north-eastern coast and in the Gulf of Guinea. Geopolitical patterns were observed between European states and their former colonies, which may have led to a greater research focus on policy and socioeconomics. Some research topics have emerged in recent decades, such as maritime crimes and the human dimensions of fisheries, while others, like stock assessments and ecosystem-based approaches, continue to receive relatively little attention. Finally, future research directions in fisheries science are recommended based on the Ocean Decade priority actions that align with the local needs and capacities of West African countries.
Ajuts:	European Commission 817911 Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2024-001506-M Agencia Estatal de Investigación CEX2019-000940-M Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-00527 Generalitat de Catalunya 2021/SGR-00640
Nota:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2024-001506-M
Drets:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Llengua:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Matèria:	Fishery science ; Bibliometric analysis ; Topic modelling ; West Africa
Publicat a:	Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries, Vol. 36, Num. 1 (December 2026) , art. 55, ISSN 1573-5184

DOI: 10.1007/s11160-026-10059-y

15 p, 1.7 MB

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