What is a "sheldon eel trap"

[needscoffee]

Ages ago, I posted a topic asking to ID a mystery basket which turned out to be some kind of eel/fish/seafood trap.

Identify mystery woven basket thing

What is this object? It’s woven out of some basket-type material. It has an opening in the middle with sharp point sticks going in making it look like a trap for a small animal, but it’s pretty flimsy and doesn’t really seem practical as a trap for anything hardier than a bird. There’s a large opening at the top, too. Is it just a decorate basket for something?