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Principles of developing, validating and adopting BMPs in aquaculture - catfishcase studyThuy T. T. Nguyen & Sena S. De SilvaNetwork of Aquaculture Centres in Asia-Pacific, Suraswadi Building,Department of Fisheries, Kasetsart University Campus, Bangkok 10900, ThailandAbstractThis document provides conceptual basis of Better Management Practices (BMPs) and methodologies to develop,implement and evaluate BMPs. In the case of catfish farming in Vietnam, a set of “draft” BMPs were developed forthree sectors: grow-out, nursery and hatchery, based on data of an extensive survey, coupled with the use of riskassessment tools and stakeholder discussion. This “draft” will be then tested at demonstration farms, deployedand improved over time. Experiences from development and implementation of BMPs in India in the shrimpfarming sectors are also being incorporated into the Vietnam catfish case.What are Better Management Practices (BMPs)BMPs refer to a set of guidelines that are developed, based on population based risk factor studies, in consultationwith the practitioners and relevant stakeholders and on the evaluation of current practices. Adoption of BMPs willlead to an improvement in the overall practices, reduce disease risk, improve yields, and contribute towardssustainability and economic viability.BMPs are a set of management guidelines and are not standards, and the BMPs ensure that adoption of theguidelines is relatively easy to achieve without increased costs. The word “better” also implies that BMPs arealways evolving, open to improvement and indeed needs improvements as the culture practices progress.Adoption of BMPs are known to bring about benefits such as:• Reduction and/or a minimisation of disease occurrence,• Improved growth performance,• Decreasing cost of farming,• Improved environmental conditions, and consequently minimise impacts on the local environmental,• Attain food quality standards,• Improve marketability of the produce, and• Facilitate sustainability amongst others.Although most BMPs have an overall similarity in the guidelines and the objectives, however, there is a significantlevel of variation between commodities and locations. Development of location specific BMPs andcontextualisation are an important part of the development process of BMPs.It is very clear that adoption of BMPs has brought about very significant beneficial impacts to farming systems, asbest exemplified in the case of the revival and the continued sustenance of shrimp farming in India. In thisinstance not only has the BMPs been adopted by individual farmers, the collective actions of the “clusters” offarmers, through formation of the societies have had improved yields, nearly minimised disease occurrences,91