National Marine Fisheries Development Center (NMFDC)

The National Marine Fisheries Development Center (NMFDC) was established in 1974 with funding assistance from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to provide a common base for the development and upgrading of the manpower needs of the marine fishing industry through the implementation of the Skipper / Master fishermen and Boat Engineering Courses.

The center was formerly called the Fishermen’s Training Center (FTC) and operated from 1974 to 1975 under the assistance of UNDP which provided the expertise and equipment. However, during the early part of 1976, the funding assistance was terminated and BFAR took over for its operation and management.

On July 24, 1987, the FTC was renamed National Commercial Fisheries Development Center (NCFDC) during the implementation of the reorganization of BFAR. In 1996, the center was again renamed into National Marine Fisheries Development Center (NMFDC) by virtue of DA Special Order No. 143, series of 1996 in order to provide expanded services to the entire marine fishing industry. NMFDC’s name and existence was cast into stone with the adoption of DA Administrative Order No. 3, series of 1998 or the “Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Republic Act No. 8550 otherwise known as the Philippine Fisheries Code of 1998”, as amended by Republic Act No. 10654.

The main office of NMFDC is located 35 kilometers south of Manila, inside Naval Base Heracleo Alano, Sangley Point, Cavite City. It can be reached by car from Luneta Park, Manila in approximately 1.5 hours under normal traffic conditions. NMFDC also has a facility inside Navotas Fishport Complex, Navotas City, called MCS Station and Fishing Technology Laboratory, which serves as a training facility in marine capture fisheries as well as the focal point for the operation and management of all MCS land and sea assets of BFAR.