Deogracias Villadolid introduced the tilapia fish to the Philippines in 1950 when he was Director of the Bureau of Fisheries. He also initiated fisheries education in the country.

DEOGRACIAS VILLADOLID

Villadolid was a distinguished marine biologist and taught at the University of the Philippines, College of Agriculture.

During World War II, the Japanese let him direct the Bureau of Fisheries for a while. When they caught him helping the guerrilla cause, they incarcerated him. He escaped during an air raid. Shortly after the war he was reinstated to his position as Chief of the Division of Fisheries, Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

In 1946, Villadolid organized the Philippine Institute of Fisheries and Technology under the division of fisheries, which was later converted by into a bureau. The Institute itself was converted into a College of Fisheries under the University of the Philippines. At the bureau, Villadolid pushed programs to help the poor fishermen who lived by shallow-water fishing.

His successful breeding of the bangus (Chano-chanos) and tilapia (Tilapia mossambica) in one common fishpond gave rise to a breeding technique that became an entrepreneurial boost throughout the country in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

22 March 1896

to 4 March 1976