Commercial collection and utilisation of maërl

Blunden, Gerald; Binns, W. W.; Perks, F.

doi:10.1007/bf02863313

Cited by 18 publications

(12 citation statements)

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“…When fossilized, such deposits can be used as stratigraphic markers and palaeoenvironmental indicators (Birkett et al, 1998;Foster et al, 1997). Live and dead maerl deposits are being heavily and often unsustainably harvested (over 500,000 tons yearly) as a source of lime and trace elements for agricultural use, as water filtration agents, and as a natural remedy for osteoporosis (Lüning, 1990;Birkett et al, 1998;Guiry & Blunden, 1991;Blunden et al, 1975). The complex nature of this biotope creates a network of exceptional biological and functional diversity, hosting a large variety of associated organisms (Lüning, 1990;Birkett et al, 1998;Ballesteros, 2003;Sciberras et al, 2010), and providing shelter to many commercially important crustacean, bivalve and fish species, among others (Kamenos et al, 2004 a,b ;Birkett et al, 1998;Georgiadis et al, 2009. Sensitivity to human activities: Being among the slowest-growing organisms (up to a few mm per year), coralline algae are exceptionally vulnerable to any mechanical disturbance such as dredging, trawling (Birkett et al, 1998) and even net fishing (Georgiadis et al, 2009;Sciberras et al, 2010).…”

Section: Maerl Beds (Eunis A551)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

et al. 2012

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The goal of ecosystem-based marine spatial management is to maintain marine ecosystems in a healthy, productive and resilient condition; hence, they can sustainably provide the needed goods and services for human welfare. However, the increasing pressures upon the marine realm threaten marine ecosystems, especially seabed biotopes, and thus a well-planned approach of managing use of marine space is essential to achieve sustainability. The relative value of seabed biotopes, evaluated on the basis of goods and services, is an important starting point for the spatial management of marine areas. Herein, 56 types of European seabed biotopes and their related goods, services, sensitivity issues, and conservation status were compiled, the latter referring to management and protection tools which currently apply for these biotopes at European or international level. Fishing activities, especially by benthic trawls, and marine pollution are the main threats to European seabed biotopes. Increased seawater turbidity, dredged sediment disposal, coastal constructions, biological invasions, mining, extraction of raw materials, shipping-related activities, tourism, hydrocarbon exploration, and even some practices of scientific research, also exert substantial pressure. Although some first steps have been taken to protect the European sea beds through international agreements and European and national legislation, a finer scale of classification and assessment of marine biotopes is considered crucial in shaping sound priorities and management guidelines towards the effective conservation and sustainability of European marine resources.

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Section: Maerl Beds (Eunis A551)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

et al. 2012

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“…Aquat Biol 15: [215][216][217][218][219][220][221][222][223][224] 2012 tion, as an animal fodder additive, in acid water treatment, in biological denitrification, in drinking water treatment, in toxin elimination and in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, nuclear and medical industries (Blunden et al 1975(Blunden et al , 1977(Blunden et al , 1997.…”

Section: Resale or Republication Not Permitted Without Written Consenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…2003, and references therein). Previous studies have been carried out to characterise its physical and inorganic chemical composition (Borowitzka et al 1974, Blunden et al 1975, 1997, but there are few studies building on this work. Furthermore, coralline red algal deposits have been useful in paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstructions regarding global sea-level fluctuations (Titschack et al 2008), seasonal climate variability (Freiwald & Henrich 1994) and the use of the deposits as bi-weekly paleothermometers (Kamenos et al 2008), but there have been no such applications using maerl deposits.…”

Section: Resale or Republication Not Permitted Without Written Consenmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Living maerl (LM) is reddish-purple in colour and possesses abundant epiflora, while non-living maerl (NLM) is typically greyish-white to brown-white and lacks epiflora (Blunden et al 1975). It is primarily NLM that is commercially exploited (Blunden et al 1975) and has been collected off the Irish, Cornish and Brittany coasts since the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries respectively (De Grave & Whitaker 1999).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is primarily NLM that is commercially exploited (Blunden et al 1975) and has been collected off the Irish, Cornish and Brittany coasts since the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries respectively (De Grave & Whitaker 1999). It is used as an agricultural fertiliser to increase the pH of acidic soils and also more recently for soil ameliora-tion, as an animal fodder additive, in acid water treatment, in biological denitrification, in drinking water treatment, in toxin elimination and in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, nuclear and medical industries (Blunden et al 1975(Blunden et al , 1977(Blunden et al , 1997.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical and physical features of living and non-living maerl rhodoliths

O’Reilly¹,

Hurley²,

Coleman³

et al. 2012

Aquat. Biol.

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Living (LM) and non-living maerl (NLM) rhodoliths of the species Lithothamnion corallioides (Crouan & Crouan, 1867) from Kingstown Bay, Galway, were sampled and compared in relation to their physical structure and lipid and low molecular weight carbohydrate (LMWC) composition. Saturated (SATFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) were dominant, in particular 16:0, 20:4n-6 and 20:5n-3, but a diverse range of fatty acids were identified. The abundance of n-alkanals was high, and sterol composition was simple, with cholesterol accounting for over 90% of the total sterols. Mono-, di-, and trisaccharides, with galactose units being dominant, and floridoside were present in high abundance. Notably, the fatty acid and LMWC profiles varied little between NLM and LM. The relatively high abundance of PUFA and floridoside, in particular, suggests that NLM may have further potential for research and commercial purposes in a variety of food, biomedical and industrial applications. Previously reported unidentified 'globular inclusions' were more abundant in NLM and exhibited a crystalline morphology. Together with the bacterial fatty acid composition of LM and NLM, the results indicate that these structures are not bacterial in nature.KEY WORDS: Maerl · Coralline algae · Fatty acids · Floridoside · Lipids · Kingstown Bay · Galway Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherAquat Biol 15: [215][216][217][218][219][220][221][222][223][224] 2012 tion, as an animal fodder additive, in acid water treatment, in biological denitrification, in drinking water treatment, in toxin elimination and in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics, nuclear and medical industries (Blunden et al. 1975(Blunden et al. , 1977(Blunden et al. , 1997.The primary negative anthropogenic effects on maerl habitats are smothering with fine sediment from trawling and commercial exploitation (De Grave & Whitaker 1998, Grall & HallSpencer 2003, Wilson et al. 2004) and eutrophic conditions due to sewage and fish discharge (Wilson et al. 2004). The European Commission Council Directive 92/43/EEC, commonly known as the 'Habitats Directive', lists Lithothamnion corallioides and Phymatolithon calcareum in Annex V as being subject to management and conservation (European Council 1992). However, this only applies to Atlantic ex ploited maerl and not to any rarer species or non-commercially exploited maerl (Barbera et al. 2003). Data regarding the distribution of Irish maerl beds has been the topic of a recent report (De Grave & Whitaker 1999), which concludes that 65 to 70% of all confirmed maerl beds in Irish waters occur in the Galway-Connemara region, 20 to 25% occur in the southwest region, and the remainder occur along the Donegal coast, with an overall abundance of the order of 3 × 10 6 m 3 of exploitable maerl. With this vast resource, there has been renewed interest in maerl, both commercially and in terms of its ecological importance and conservation needs.To date, the primary focus of research on maerl has been ecolog...

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Major Uses of Macroalgae

Kornprobst

2014

Encyclopedia of Marine Natural Products

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Commercial collection and utilisation of maërl

Cited by 18 publications

References 2 publications

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

Assessment of goods and services, vulnerability, and conservation status of European seabed biotopes: a stepping stone towards ecosystem-based marine spatial management

Chemical and physical features of living and non-living maerl rhodoliths

Major Uses of Macroalgae

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