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a very few producers. A second way, better management practices can be used is to define a few, often different,practices that increase efficiency and productivity and/or reduce or mitigate negative impacts. Finally, betterpractices are often required by government or others to encourage a minimally acceptable level of performance(and eliminate bad practices) with regard to a specific activity. In this sense, the term is used in opposition tounacceptable practices.Past experiences show that a number of individual better practices relating to different activities on farm and ofvarying by intensity, scale and species have been identified. These practices were then analysed both tounderstand how they were developed (e.g. what problem did they solve and what result did they achieve), howthey work, and what it would take for them to be adopted by other producers. In the process of undertaking thesestudies, it has become clear that better practices today still fall short both of what is needed and what appears tobe possible. In all likelihood, today's better practices will be tomorrow's norm. The challenge is to encourage theirfurther adoption while at the same time pushing even further to find better practices still.In short, the goal must be to constantly seek out better practices, not just because they reduce negative impacts,but also because they are more efficient and more profitable. The goal is to improve the norm rather than to simplyestablish a bar and declare everything above it to be best or good practice and everything below to be bad orunacceptable. From the shrimp Consortium's work (this work was awarded the Green Award by the World Bank in2007), we know that we may not have any 'best' practices at this time. We have, however, identified a number ofbetter practices, and these practices are far better than the worse ones. Their impact on resource use efficiencycan be manifolds better than worse practices. Their impact on productivity, and more importantly on profitability,can be similarly striking when compared to worse practices.b) Are BMPs needed for tra catfish farming?Uniqueness of the catfish farming in the Mekong DeltaTra catfish farming occupies a rather unique status in global aquaculture. The uniqueness of this farming systemcould be summarised as follows:• It is a farming system that is capable producing, on average, 300 to 400 tonnes /ha /crop; the highestrecorded for any primary production sector in the world.• It is a farming system that essentially occupies approximately 5,400 ha of land but produces for exampleas much as 65 percent of the total aquaculture production in Europe.• It is essentially a pond farming system that is conducted in ponds of 4 to 4.5 m depth, with regular waterexchange from the Mekong River and/or its tributaries.• It provides many livelihood opportunities to poor rural communities, particularly women, significantlybypassing that seen elsewhere in aquaculture.• The farming system is blessed with an adequate water supply through the year, but the farming system isobligatory to ensure that the water source is not overly nutrient loaded bringing about negative impacts onall users of this common, valuable resource.• It is a farming system that for all intents and purposes is horizontally integrated, with specialised hatcheryproduction, fry to fingerling/ nursery rearing and grow-out phases93