Summary
Mr. Van der Knaap is an experienced Fishery and Aquaculture Adviser with over 40 years of experience in the field. He was m the Chief of Party of the World Bank-funded Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project in Bangladesh. He has also served as a Fishery and Aquaculture Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for many years. He has been involved in numerous fisheries and aquaculture projects in Africa, Asia and other regions.

Key qualifications
Over 40 years of experience in the field of Fishery and Aquaculture Advisory Services
Experienced in leading technical teams for various fisheries and aquaculture projects.
Knowledgeable with respect to blue growth and blue economy, fisheries governance, stock assessment, climate change, fish processing techniques, and aquaculture development.
Experienced in project management, monitoring and evaluation.
Strong communication, interpersonal, and problem-solving skills.

Professional experience

• 2024-present: Team Leader of a German-Kenyan Consortium (part-time) to provide advisory services to a Transboundary Conservation Area Project shared by Kenya and Tanzania.
• 2024-present: Senior Fisheries Adviser to an EU-funded project to conduct stock assessment on Lake Tanganyika.
• 2023-present: international expert to lead stock assessment activities in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Eden.
• August 2022 – July 2023: Chief of Party, World Bank-funded Sustainable Coastal and Marine Fisheries Project, Bangladesh. Leads the team in the implementation of the project's activities
  Ensures that project activities are on track and within budget Establishes and maintains relationships with stakeholders and partners. Provides technical guidance to project staff.
• June 2019 – February 2022: Fishery and Aquaculture Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Sub-regional Office for Eastern Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Led technical teams for various fisheries and aquaculture projects in the nine East African countries (including Somalia, Djibouti and Eritrea).
  Served as Lead Technical Officer for the projects on illegal fishing (IUU), climate change, social protection, livelihood improvement, invasive plant and fish species, and policy matters. Contributed to the preparation of a major Green Climate Fund project in The Gambia.
• January 2016 – May 2019: Fishery and Aquaculture Officer, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Regional Office for Africa, Accra, Ghana. Led technical teams for over 20 fisheries and aquaculture projects. Contributed to the development of new methods and methodologies in blue growth and blue economy, climate change, fish processing techniques, and aquaculture development. Participated in combined World Bank and FAO Investment Centre formulation and appraisal missions in several African countries.
• May 2014 – October 2015: Ad Interim Regional Project Coordinator, United Nations Office for Operation Services, Nairobi, Kenya. Coordinated the GEF/UNDP/UNEP-funded Project entitled: Implementing Integrated Water Resource and Wastewater Management in Atlantic and Indian Ocean Small Island Development States (IWRM AIO SIDS, including Maldives).
• January – April 2014: Resource Mobilization Adviser, UN-HABITAT, Nairobi, Kenya
• October 2013 – January 2014: Freelance Consultant, MAXILLION Consultancy, Wageningen, Netherlands (Maldives, Yemen, Tanzania).
• February 2011 – September 2013: Chief Technical Adviser, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Bujumbura, Burundi. Technical Assistant to the Fisheries Directorate of the Lake Tanganyika Authority's Framework Fisheries Management Plan, Fisheries Research, Monitoring, Control & Surveillance, IUU and Co-management.

Before the above assignments he was the Director of his own Consultancy firm, MAXILLION Consultancy, in the Netherlands from the beginning of 2003 until January 2011 during which he carried out numerous consultancies for various organisations, including some final evaluation studies for the EC/EDF (FIAS/SIAP Project in West Africa), IFAD (Project completion in Maldives), AfDB (Project completion in Djibouti) and UFFCA/NOVIB (Uganda). Furthermore, he was involved in tsunami-related projects, conducting identification and supervision missions for IFAD (Maldives and Sri Lanka). Project implementation missions have been carried out for the Netherlands Institute of Fisheries Research (in Mauritania and Guinea), for EU/PHARE (in Bulgaria), EU/CARDS (in Macedonia), EU/IPA (in Turkey), for the World Bank/GEF (in Albania, Macedonia and Montenegro), for the Asian Development Bank (in Sri Lanka), for the African Development Bank (Guinea Bissau) and for FAO (Maldives, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast, Togo and Benin). Other missions have been undertaken to Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Italy and Canada. He also conducted a study on the Sustainability of Western Consumption of Nile Perch from Lake Victoria for the Netherlands Bureau for Environment and Nature.

He he worked as the Coordinator of the Lake Victoria Fisheries Research Project, funded by the European Development Fund from 1996 to 2002. He was responsible for day-to-day management of the regional project including planning of research activities, training, consultancy input, and financial management.

He joined the International Agricultural Centre in the Netherlands in 1991 where he provided advice on a wide range of fisheries, coastal zone management and related aquatic resources projects to Dutch bilateral and multilateral donors, executed and/or participated in monitoring, evaluation and backstopping missions to developing countries. In addition, he acted as the Coordinator of an EU funded fisheries research project on Lake Victoria, East Africa. He was also Course Director of the annual IAC Course in Data Handling for Tropical Fisheries Management (1991-1995).

After graduating from Leyden State University in the Netherlands, with an MSc degree in biology, he worked for seven years in marine and freshwater fisheries development and management projects in Africa and Asia from 1984 to 1990. During this period the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recruited him and he worked in fisheries research and management projects in Senegal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives after which an EEC-funded project employed him in Cameroon until 1991. During these assignments, he gained experience in fisheries research, development and management.

Assignments and conference attendance in Albania, Australia, Bangladesh, Benin, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Canada, Canary Islands, Cabo Verde, Comoros, Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denmark, Djibouti, Egypt, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Finland, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Kenya, Liberia, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Netherlands Antilles, Niger, Nigeria, Portugal, Rwanda, São Tomé & Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, St. Vincent & Grenadines, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United States of America, Yemen, Zambia.

Professional education

1983        M.Sc. Degree in Biology, State University Leiden, the Netherlands. Main subjects: Fisheries management, marine biology, coral reef conservation and fish taxonomy.