HISTORY

The history of manufacturing black caviar and delicacies of sturgeon and other fishes goes far deep into centuries. Sturgeon is one of the most ancient representative of the fauna kept up to now on the Earth. Russian fishermen have learned to make caviar in the ÕII century, and in 1520, the Father Roman Juliy II has estimated it to the advantage and has put it in the menu of the European royal court. It is considered, that from the times of Ivan the 4th sturgeon began to be delivered to the imperial table. The known connoisseur L.P.Sabateev in his book " the Fish of Russia " writes, that under the decree of the king Aleksey Mihailovitch from 1672 to each of the 50 palaces fishermen were to deliver to the imperial court till 30 sturgeons - on the whole 1500 a year.

In the beginning of the XVIII century the fish craft in Russia was announced the state monopoly. By the decree from January 6, 1704, Peter the First ordered " all fish catching undertake by the Great Tsar ". Soon after the occurrence of Peter's decree for the management of the fish craft a special " fish office " was created in Astrakhan. The production of fish in the Volga-Caspian basin was based mainly on sturgeon and white salmon, however, in the XIX century the increasing and greater importance began to get also to the craft of other thick net kinds.

By the middle of the last century our region gave more than half of all the craft of Russia, and its share in the world production made about 11 %. In basic, the production of sturgeon and, first of all, caviar were on sale at various fairs that took place in the European parts of Russia.

Specialized sturgeon the craft has arisen upon the joint of two centuries, when the construction of iron roads, the development of fleet , the delivery of cargoes by the water way were got into use, that, in turn, have increased the demand in the fish production.

Before the revolution the craft and processing îf sturgeon fishes, the reception from them nutritious high-quality products - caviar and balyk products - were in the power of some separate fishermen.

After the revolution there was a question on the nationalization the fish craft. On the 9th of June, 1919, the official registration and the concentration of caviar manufacturing in the official body in the alife-fish section of the Oblastriba was held.

In 1923, the sturgeon economy, fish and caviar production were concentrated in the Central caviar state in the city of Astrakhan.

In 1927 Caviar-balyk factory was created, which became the specialized enterprise for the manufacturing of delicacies - black caviar and balyk products of sturgeon fishes.

In 1939 the Caviar-balyk factory was included as a component into the Astrakhan fish-canning-refrigerating combine and was in its structure till 1947.

Since 1947 an independent caviar plant is organized again, where some regional caviar items and sailing-factories and also special fleet were included. The enterprise was quickly accelerated with new engineering, labour-consuming processes, here some process were mechanized, the technology was improved.

From 1956 till 1964, the caviar-balyk manufacture transfers to the Astrakhan fish-canning-refrigerating combine.

In 1964 the caviar-balyk factory is again separated from the fish-combine and the Caspian caviar-balyk industrial association -CIBPO- is organised. In its structure there are three stationary shops on processing caviar on the delta fish-processing enterprises constructed in 1965-1966. The shops are equipped with modern engineering with favorable household conditions for working in the Orangereynoe and Kirovskiy settlements and in Astrakhan.

From 1966 till 1974, 7 comfortable floating caviar factories with industrial and household conditions are constructed. The association has the special self-propelled fleet for the delivery of caviar and fish from separate industrial sites (of floating plants and regional shops).

Almost all fish of sturgeon, extracted in the Caspian sea (except for Iran), acts on processing in CIBPO. It is, approximately, about 90 % of the world production. The basic kinds - Beluga, Sturgeon, Stellate sturgeon - are exposed to processing in CIBPO, which lets out delicacy production of high quality and of wide assortment. Together with caviar manufacturing of balyk products has received wide development . Caviar-balyk manufacturing is regularly improved, that improves the quality of the production and the economy of the enterprise.

From 1964 the rate on increase in output in fine packing into fine consumer containers is taken by the association. Such direction has required amplification of the mechanization of labour-consuming processes, the introduction of packing, automatic devices, machines on cutting of balyk in slices, washing, drying, boiling machines and mechanized transport inside sections.

But still, people are to look after it all - experts, connoisseurs of the business, professionals of the caviar foreman, foreman on processing fish, fish manufacturers, chiefs of floating plants and of stationary shops.

It is said, not in vain, that the exact moment of ending of salting caviar can be defined only by a caviar foreman, and relying only on one's own sensations about the appearance of caviar and trying the quality of caviar with fingers. Any device will not help in this process that is short in time.

Some of the caviar foreman, the experts of caviar manufacturing, recieved the wide popularity over the enterprise, in the region, over the country and abroad. They are: Gorinin À.À., the chief of Orangereinoe shop; the experts of floating caviar factories - Petrov Ì.Ò., the conducting caviar foreman, Polyanskiy J.P., the foreman, Levchenko À.V., the captain - director, Êàmàyev À.G, the captain - director of the floating plant; the experts of the coastal shops: Êuznetsoa G.N., Polutarnikova N.F., the foreman in processing caviar, Shorin N.G., the foreman-advisor, Dekin I.V., the chief of the caviar shop, Zolotovskaya N.V., the main technologist, Ìukaeva H.H., the chief of the industrial laboratory, Skorik M.N., the chief of the balyk shop, Raschepkina L.V., the conducting foreman of balyk manufacturing, Ìàyorov V.Ì., the foreman of the salting site, Êirsanova L.P., the foreman of the smoking branch, Ìîcolova S.À., the operator of smoking sets, Guileva A.P., Ìàmonova Ò.B., Åremenko À.À. - the manufacturers of fish.

The high professional level of the employees of the enterprise was more than once marked by the state awards. So, the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation ¹ 742 from 30.06.1998 for the merits for the state and the long-term diligent work the chief of the shop JSC "Russian caviar" Àlikova Ludmila Dmitrievna is awarded with the Award of Honour. These people have created the popularity of the enterprise in Russia and abroad by the long-term work .

In 1995 CIBPO was bought and reorganized in the Joint-stock company "Russian caviar" (JSC "Russian caviar"), where the basic shareholders are the members of the collective. Since 1999 JSC "Russian caviar" heads the general director Ìironov V.I., who since 1963 has passed the way from the manufacturer of fish at caviar items, the assistant of the foreman, the foreman, the conducting caviar foreman, and from 1980 till 1999 worked as the captain - director of the floating caviar factory.

"Russian caviar" is one of few enterprises in Russia, which during the economic reforms has kept its industrial potential and the highly skilled staff. Now the enterprise keeps the basic direction to the amplified processing and the realization of the fish goods from the fishes of thick net breeds.