6. As a follow up to the recommendations from the Bangkok Consultation and in support of the above activities, an Expert Consultation was convened by FAO and the Government of Australia on the 4 to 7 December 2000 (See Annex H - Prospectus of the Consultation for further details). The objectives of the Expert Consultation were to:
7. Provide a recognized international forum for discussion on major aspects related to the promotion of sustainable shrimp culture practices as well as of related institutional and legal instruments.
8. Continue facilitating the process of consensus-building among major stakeholders concerned with shrimp culture development and management.
9. Identify/determine avenues, as well as specific benefits and limitations, for the development and implementation of Good Management Practices and Good Legal and Institutional Arrangements leading to improvements in shrimp culture management practices at farm and institutional levels.
The Expert Consultation was expected to produce the following outputs:
10. A set of ‘generic’ farm-level GMPs which are widely applicable in shrimp culture throughout the world.
11. Guidelines for the development and implementation of situation-specific GMPs at the national or sub-national level; these guidelines would relate to, inter alia, the identification of situation-specific issues, the methodology for cost-benefit analysis of GMPs; stakeholder participation; and others.
12. Constraint analysis for the adoption of GMPs and how to overcome them, including strategies to support farmers and farmer organizations in implementing better management practices.
13. A set of ‘generic’ good legal and institutional arrangements (GLIAs) that are widely applicable in shrimp culture throughout the world.
14. Guidelines for the development and implementation of country-specific GLIAs that take into account a country’s specific legal and institutional conditions.
15. Constraints analysis for the adoption of GLIAs and how to overcome them, including strategies to support implementation of good institutional and legal arrangements.
The Agenda for the Expert Consultation is provided in Annex A.
16. Three working papers were prepared by FAO for the Consultation: (i) a Working paper on Operating Principles for Sustainable Shrimp Culture; (ii) a Working paper on Draft Guidelines for the development and Implementation of Situation-specific GMPs at the National or Sub-national level; and (iii) a Working Paper on Good Legal and Institutional Arrangements for Shrimp Culture. These working papers served as reference documents for Consultation working groups, and were subsequently discussed and further developed by participants during each Working Group session. Additional documents were submitted by delegates. The list of documents made available to the Expert Consultation is given in Annex G.
17. One of the expected outputs of the Expert Consultation was a set of ‘generic’’ farm level GMPs which are widely applicable throughout the world. However, during the course of preparation and the conduct of the Consultation, the participants felt that the term “Operating Principles” for sustainable shrimp culture was preferred, because GMPs carried with them the connotation of precisely defined farm level practices. GMPs would always be highly specific to a particular environment, location and farming system. Thus, as a generic term, “Operating Principles” appeared to be a more adequate term.
