WWW.WAS.ORG • WORLD AQUACULTURE • JUNE 2018 13 IN MEMORIAM Dr. Rabanal was born on September 20, 1917 in Alaminos, Pangasinan, Philippines. He graduated with a B.S. in Fish Culture at the University of the Philippines in Diliman, Quezon City in 1940. He first worked as Assistant Curator of the Fish Collection, Natural History Museum Division of the Department of Agriculture and Commerce in Manila, Philippines from 1941-1942. He then served as Fish Culturist of the Dagat-Dagatan Experimental Station of the Bureau of Fisheries from 1943-1944. In 1945-1946, he was a Junior Scientist at the Philippine National Museum and became a Fishery Officer of the Philippine Institute of Fisheries Technology in 1946. He earned his M.S. in Marine Biology from Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA in 1948 and his Ph.D. in Fisheries Management from Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA in 1960. In 1967, he was named Chief of the Fish Culture Section Officer of the Philippine Institute of Fisheries Technology. Dr. Rabanal became a Fishery Officer for Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Fisheries Department of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, Italy from 1967-1972. From 1972-1974, he was Regional Aquaculture Adviser of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (RAPA) in Bangkok, Thailand and Senior Aquaculture Development Officer of the FAO/UNDP South China Sea Fisheries Development and Coordinating Program in Manila, Philippines from 1974-1980. After his retirement in 1980, he continued to work as a consultant in aquaculture for the FAO, UNDP, World Bank, Asian Development Bank, USAID, Philippine government agencies and private companies. He authored and co-authored more than 200 technical, semi-technical and popular papers in aquaculture and participated in numerous fisheries and aquaculture conferences, symposia, meetings and workshops worldwide. He was awarded John Simon Guggenheim Fellowships in 1957 and 1959 and received the Honorary Life Membership from the World Aquaculture Society at the 18th annual conference in Guayaquil, Ecuador in 1987. He founded the Society of Aquaculture Engineers of the Philippines and was a member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Limnology & Oceanography, National Research Council of the Philippines and Philippine Association for the Advancement of Science, among others. In 2013, the Society of Aquaculture Engineers of the Philippines and Philippine Aquaculture Society honored him as the “Father of Philippine Aquaculture.” In 1999, he donated his collection of books, pamphlets, leaflets, journal reprints and papers to the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center’s Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC/AQD) library in Tigbauan, Iloilo, Philippines with the credo that “Information should not be kept rotting in a cabinet but rather it should be made accessible and utilized.” I am fortunate to be one of the many aspiring Filipino aquaculture scientists who was guided by Dr. Rabanal. He was generous in sharing his time and talent, and caring as a doting mentor. He passed away in April 2018 after a full and productive life at the age of 99. — Rafael D. Guerrero III, Ph.D., Bay, Laguna, Philippines Herminio R. Rabanal (1917-2018) “Father of Philippine Aquaculture” and International Aquaculture Development Worker
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