Gurev Fish-Canning Combine

(full name, V. I. Lenin Gur’ev Fish-canning Combine), one of the largest combines of its kind in the USSR. It is located in the village of Balykshi near the city of Gur’ev (Kazakh SSR), on the Ural River. Construction of the combine was started in 1930. It began operating in 1933 as an integrated fish-processing plant. It consists of a cannery, caviar and cured fish fillet plants, a refrigeration plant, a technical production shop, and auxiliary enterprises. The cannery is equipped with mechanized production lines. The maximum cold capacity of the refrigeration plant is 2,100 tons, and the capacity for freezing fish is 130 tons. The combine is being overhauled. Construction of the first stage of a reinforced concrete berth was completed in 1969. The combine receives and processes over 30 percent of the sturgeon fishes (beluga, sturgeon, starred sturgeon) caught in the Caspian basin. It also processes fish caught with a fine-mesh net (pike perch, Caspian roach, Aspius aspius) and Caspian sprats. It markets canned fish; soft and pressed caviar from sturgeons; frozen, chilled, smoked, salted, and dry-cured fish products; delicatessen items from sturgeons; ready-to-serve fish products; and fish meal. The plant has up-to-date equipment for mechanized fish processing.