The creation of a free labor market in the post-reform period contributed to the intensification of entrepreneurial activity and the growth of industrial enterprises in all sectors of the economy of the Russian Empire. The development of rich natural resources in the outlying and sparsely populated regions of the country was impossible without a significant number of free labor. In the Volga-Caspian fishing Region, the development of entrepreneurial activity in the post-reform period coincides with the increase in the number of labor migrants who came here for seasonal work and moved to permanent residence. The territorial scope of the study is the Volga-Caspian fishing Region, most of which was administratively part of the Astrakhan Province. The purpose of the study is to analyze entrepreneurial activity in the fishing industry of the Volga-Caspian Region as a factor for attracting labor migrants to the region in the late 19th – early 20th centuries. Achieving the goal includes solving its constituent tasks: to characterize the demographic dynamics in the Astrakhan Province in the post-reform period; to analyze the state package of measures to stimulate small business and its effectiveness; show the development of large capital in the Volga-Caspian fishing Region; to identify the main types of migration flows to the Volga-Caspian fishing Region. The methodological apparatus of the study is represented by the theory of modernization, as well as a complex of special historical and general scientific methods. The paper, based on statistical data and office documentation, shows that the development of entrepreneurial activity in the fishing industry contributed to the growth in the number of migrants from other regions of the country; the contribution of labor migrants to the work of fisheries and the processes of colonization of the outlying region is characterized; shows the difficulties faced by the fishing population in the post-reform period, and the effectiveness of government measures to support it.
