Uganda, March 23 -- Fish factories in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are operating below installed capacities owing to a sharp drop in fish stocks, especially the Nile Perch.

This, experts say, has plunged the outlook of the fisheries industry across the region into a state of uncertainty amid shrinking exports, falling returns and high production costs.

This uncertainty has been fuelled by catching immature Nile Perch. The fish, which would have grown for processing, are being harvested young by unscrupulous fishermen who take advantage of the government's poor enforcement of right gear for fishing silverfish (mukene).

While East African member states agreed on larger net sizes in Lake Victoria for fishing mukene (known as dagaa in Tanzan...