Fred Sondheimer

As a marine official for WWF in Ecuador, Fred Sondheimer works with a variety of fisheries, ranging from international industrial enterprises to coastal artisanal communities, to help ensure that these extractive activities work in harmony with the marine ecosystems on which they depend. Currently, Sondheimer is promoting sustainable fishing in Ecuador. WWF’s main projects involve eco-certification of a major artisanal fishery to maintain and improve export market access, and reform of a semi-industrial fishery to strengthen property rights and increase stewardship incentives for fishers.

Sondheimer’s professional experience before WWF consists of consultancy work on fisheries management in Ecuador. He obtained a Master’s Degree in International Relations with a strong focus on the institutions surrounding trade and value chains in agricultural and marine commodities. In the future, Fred hopes to apply his experiences in other sustainable fishing projects and market instruments to promote new financing and governance models that can unlock the economic and cultural benefits of well-managed wild capture fisheries.