One of the leading branches of the economy of Western Siberia was fishing. It developed in the basins of large rivers, lakes and parts of the Kara Sea. Valuable fish were extracted – muksun, nelma, sturgeon.
During the Great Patriotic War, fishing was not only a successful branch of the national economy (valuable fish was part of the payment for the supply of lend-lease allies), but also very often a source of survival of the population. Siberians doubled and then tripled the catch and harvesting of fish and the production of fish products. During the four years of the war, fishermen of the Ob-Irtysh basin produced 3 million 734 thousand quintals of fish.
In the post-war period, a new stage in the development of fisheries began. Fishing crews were in every village council. Although fishing was done manually, with primitive fishing gear, fishermen extracted it by tons.
In 1953, 55 thousand tons of fish were caught in the Tyumen region. But fish stocks are not unlimited. It was necessary to look for sources of their replenishment. Back in 1932, the trust of the Oblrybprom of large reservoirs was organized in Tobolsk, to which all the northern plants of the region were subordinate. In the village of Bekerevka there was a Pervomaisky fish factory, which was engaged in processing salted fish coming from northern factories. In the same year, the Tobolsk fish factory of small reservoirs was established, which was engaged in the extraction of fish and its processing. In 1941, during the flood, the Pervomaisky plant was completely flooded, and in 1942 it became part of the Tobolsk fish factory of small reservoirs.
In 1950, the construction of the Tobolsk fish factory in the village of Vernefilatova took place. A glacier, refrigerating chambers, mechanical, cooperage, carpentry workshops were built. By 1953, houses, a bathhouse and a kindergarten were built for the workers of the Tobolsk fish factory. In 1959, a fish breeding workshop was opened in Tobolsk. In 1970, construction of the Abalaksky fish breeding complex began, and in 1975 the complex carried out the first release of Siberian sturgeon juveniles.