(4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
Orange County.—TVhe fisheries are represented in this county by 
34 fishermen at and near Newport. The aggregate products were 
355,417 pounds, the total value being $8,648. Among the numerous 
species taken were 89,910 pounds of halibut, 68,607 pounds of rock- 
fish, and 46,000 pounds of barracuda. 
San Diego County.—The fisheries of this county show few changes. 
The total products in 1895 were 1,374,491 pounds, valued at $27,951, 
as against 1,655,950 pounds in 1899, valued at $55,315. The gain of 
281,459 pounds and $27,364 in value was chiefly from an increase in 
the abalone fishery and enhanced values received for all fishery 
products. Of the products of 1899, 626,629 pounds were sold as fresh 
fish and 480,000 pounds as dry and pickled fish. These amounts vary 
but little from year to year. The fresh-fish values include 17 species, 
of which barracuda led with 154,754 pounds, followed by rock-fish, 
135.797 pounds, and bastard halibut, 125,797 pounds. These three 
species comprise two-thirds of the total sales of fresh fish. Of dry and 
pickled fish nearly half consisted of barracuda, the remainder being 
vellow-tail, albacore, bonito, rock-fish, mackerel, and jew-fish. 
The capital in the fisheries amounted to $32,190, and 175 fishermen 
and 6 shoresmen were employed. 
Shipments of fresh fish by Wells-Fargo Express amounted to 371,552 
pounds. Of this amount one-half went to local points in southern Cali- 
fornia, one-fourth to San Francisco, and the remainder to Arizona 
and New Mexico, with small shipments to Colorado and Kansas. The 
dry and pickled fish find a market in San Francisco, among its foreign 
population, with some shipments to Honolulu. 
The spiny-lobster catch increased from 30,000 pounds in 1895 to 
61,000 pounds in 1899. The distribution extended to Denver, Colo., 
San Antonio and Dallas, Tex., the City of Mexico, and as far east as 
Minneapolis, Minn. With an ample supply of spiny lobsters their 
shipment would be an important feature of the fisheries. 
The abalone fishery shows an increase of 385,761 pounds of abalone 
meat and shelis and an increase in value of $11,795 from that of 1895. 
This increase has been from three camps of American fishermen at and 
near Turtle Bay, off the Mexican coast, where they have concessions 
from the Mexican Government. The abalones were mostly taken by 
hand picking at low tide, one diving outfit being used by the three camps. 
The shells find a market to some extent in France and Germany, 
where they are made into large buttons and also used by manufac- 
turers of fancy boxes and toilet articles. The large, fine shells find a 
market in the United States, being polished and sold for ornaments. 
