Commercial Collection and Utilisation
of Ma/ rl
G. BLUNDEN, W. W. BINNS AND F. PERKS
INTRODUCTION
Seaweeds have been used in agriculture
for hundreds of years in many maritime
countries (1-2). An unusual example of
this is the use of certain calcareous red
algae of the family Corallinaceae known
collectively as ma~rl, which was collected
from the Cornish coast of England and
used on the soil from at least the 18th
Century (3). It seems that ma~rl was not
utilised in this way in France before the
beginning of the 19th Century (4), al-
though now it is being commercially
collected in Brittany. The ma~rl from
Brittany is composed of varieties of both
Lithothamnium calcareum {Pallas)Are-
schoug and L. corallioides Crouan (5).
Adey and McKibbin (6), on the basis of
anatomic, cytologic and reproductive
studies, removed L. calcareum, but not L.
corallioides, to the genus Phymatolithon.
In this paper we describe the commercial
collection and processing of ma~rl in
Brittany and the uses to which the mate-
rial is being put.
COLLECTION AND PROCESSING
The thalli of the living ma~rl species are
found free on the sea-bed, which usually
contains a high proportion of sand, and
they are accompanied by quantities of
dead material (7). The living algae are
reddish-purple in colour and generally
possess an abundant epiflora, but the
majority of the commercially collected
ma~rl is dead, greyish-white to brownish-
white and lacks epiflora (8). The species
grow in very variable depths of water. For
I School of Pharmacy, Portsmouth Poly-
technic, Park Road, Portsmouth, Hants., PO1
2DZ, U.K.
Submitted for publication June 1972.
ECONOMIC BOTANY 29: 140-145.April-June, 1975.
example, in the Bay of Morlaix, Boillot
(9) found the average water depth at low
tide to be a b o u t 7 m, but the range was
from 0 to 17 m. J a c q u o t t e (7) found the
depth to be considerably greater in the
Mediterranean, the average in the west
being 40 m and in the east 60 m. The
commercially exploited ma~rl is found in
shoals consisting of a series of parallel
dunes, several metres high and up to
several hundred metres long. Strong cur-
rents are essential for the production of
these banks of ma~rl (7). Under natural
conditions, reproduction by spores is the
only significant form of propagation and
maintenance of both Lithothamnium
corallioides and Phyrnatolithon calcar-
eum. The reproduction cycle is, however,
very infrequent and takes at least 6 years
(8).
Commercial collection of ma~rl is re-
stricted at present to two main areas of
Brittany: off the Glenan Islands in the
south, where the sea-bed is m u d d y and in
the north in the Gulf of St. Malo, where
the sea-bed is sandy (Fig. 1). Quantities of
ma~rl suitable for commercial exploita-
tion are available outside of Brittany, for
example, off the west coast of Ireland and
off the south coast of Cornwall, England.
The ma~rl (Fig. 2) is collected from the
sea-bed by a grab, which empties its load
into the hold of a boat capable of carrying
from 200 to 500 tons (Fig. 3). In the
collection off the Glenan Islands, when
each load has been emptied into the hold,
any large deposit of mud is removed by
shovelling. In the near future, the use of
suction dredgers capable of collecting
over 1000 tons each trip is contemplated.
The cargo is unloaded on the jetty and
transferred by truck to the factories, lo-
cated at Pont-l'Abb~, St. Brieuc, St. Malo
and Pontrieux (Fig. 1). At the factory the
141
 e4

12 ECONOMIC BOTANY
 Fig. 3. Collection of ma~rl.

Fig. 4. Rotary dryer used for maerl.

B L U N D E N E T AL.." C O M M E R C I A L COLLECTION AND UTILISA TION OF MAERL 143

 TABLE I
AVERAGE CONCENTRATIONS OF MINOR COMPONENTS OF MAERL ACCORD-
ING TO ANALYSES CONDUCTED BY THE LABORATORIES OF LIEGE, MAAS-
TRICHT, ROSCOFF, SOISSONS, CHALONS SUR MARNE, LAON, BRISTOL AND
PARIS.

Sulphur 0.60% Lead 50 p.p.m.

Phosphorus 0.35% Fluoride 50 p.p.m.
Chlorine 0,20% Titanium 25 p.p.m.
Potassium 0.20% Copper 15 p.p.m.
Sodium 0.17% Zinc 15 p.p.m.
Iron 2500 p.p.m. Nickel 10 p.p.m.
Iodine 1200 p.p.m. Arsenic 5 p.p.m.
Aluminum 500 p.p.m. Chromium 5 p.p.m.
Manganese 480 p.p.m. Bromine 3 p.p.m.
Tin 200 p.p.m. Cobalt 1.5 p.p.m.
Indium 200 p.p.m. Silver 1 p.p.m.
Strontium 150 p.p.m. Molybdenum 1 p.p.m.
Boron 80 p.p.m.

ma~rl is dried in rotary dryers (Fig. 4), the
temperature of the seaweed never ex-
ceeding 60 ~ to 70~ and the process
taking about 20 minutes. The moisture
content of the ma~rl as it enters the dryer
is usually about 20-25% and afterwards
about 2-3%. The dry product is reduced to
the desired particle size by passage
through hammer mills and the powdered
material is then bagged ready for trans-
port.
The annual harvest of ma~rl is in excess
of 300,000 tons, of which 40,000 to
50,000 tons are harvested off the Glenan
Islands in the south and the remainder
from the beds in northern Brittany. The
quantities being collected are rising, the
increase being estimated at between 10
and 15% a year. The available resources in
Brittany are unknown, but they are esti-
mated to be of the order of hundreds of
millions of tons. This quantity is probably
necessary for long-term exploitation as
the rate of growth and regeneration of
Lithothamnium and Phymatolithon spe-
cies is slow.
CONSTITUENTS
The dry weight of ma~rl is largely
composed of calcium carbonate (approx-
imately 80%) and magnesium carbonate
(10-12%). Many trace elements are pres-
ent (Table I), as well as a small quantity of
organic material. In addition to ma~rl,
variable quantities of sand and shell are
present in the commercially available
material. The quantity of sand present
varies with the area of collection, being
high in samples from the north Brittany
beds and low in the samples from the
south (Table II). The difference in the
results is explained by the sandy sea-bed
of the northern collection areas and the
muddy sea-bed of the southern area. The
figures quoted in Table II are the acid-
insoluble ash values as determined by the
British Pharmacopoeial method (10), ex-
cept that 20% hydrochloric acid was used
and the ash was boiled carefully for 15
minutes, until all effervescence had
ceased. As expected, the yield of water-
soluble extractive (10) is low, results
from 0.60 to 0.92% being obtained (Table
II).
USES
Ma~rl is marketed in most west Euro-
pean countries where its major use is in
agriculture and horticulture as a soil con-
ditioner. Successful results with the use of
ma~rl have been claimed for many crops,
including grass, oats, barley, wheat,
maize, beet, potatoes, rape, tobacco,
hops, lucerne, beans, asparagus, carrots,
cabbage, onions and strawberries (11).
The reported biological activity produced
by the use of ma~rl frequently exceeds

144 ECONOMIC BOTANY

 TABLE II
COMPARISON OF ACID-INSOI,UBI,E ASH VALUES AND WATER-SOLUBLE
EXTRACTIVE VALUES OF MA~;RI, I:ROM NORTH AND SOUTH BRITTANY.
Acid-insoluble ash %
Collection Area
1 2
Gulf of St. Malo 13.3 12.2 13.6 17.3
GlenanIslands 1.5 1.8 1.7 2.1
t h a t w h i c h w o u l d be e x p e c t e d f r o m the
analysis of the p r o d u c t . The effects pro-
d u c e d with the use of ma~rl are d e p e n d e n t
on the particle size, the rate o f activity
increasing as this is reduced. T h e particle
size f r o m p r o d u c t to p r o d u c t differs
a p p r o x i m a t e l y f r o m 50 to 3 0 0 mesh. A
typical rate o f a p p l i c a t i o n o f the finer
mesh ma~rl is 400 kg. per acre every 3
years, b u t this q u a n t i t y can be r e d u c e d
c o n s i d e r a b l y for certain crops such as
p o t a t o e s a n d grass. A p p l i c a t i o n can be
m a d e at any time of the year. In addition
t o p r o d u c t s consisting o n l y o f p o w d e r e d
ma~rl, o t h e r s are c o m m e r c i a l l y available
w h i c h c o n t a i n a d d e d N o r t h African phos-
p h a t e , the p h o s p h a t e p e r c e n t a g e being
f r o m 20-50% o f the total.
Ma~rl is used as an animal f o o d addi-
tive, in particular for cattle and pigs.
A n o t h e r use is for the filtration o f acid
drinking water. This t r e a t m e n t removes
i m p o r t a n t toxic metals, for e x a m p l e lead,
c o p p e r and zinc, by a d s o r p t i o n , by ion-
e x c h a n g e and by p r e c i p i t a t i o n b r o u g h t
a b o u t by the p r o d u c t i o n of an alkaline pH
{12). Ma~rl is also utilised in various
p h a r m a c e u t i c a l and c o s m e t i c p r o d u c t s .
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We wish to t h a n k M. and Mme. J.
Bo~nnec and M. J. B o u t e t of Establisse-
m e n t s Bo~nnec, P o n t - l ' A b b 6 for all their
help and advice during our visit t o Brit-
tany. We are also m o s t grateful for the
assistance and i n f o r m a t i o n p r o v i d e d by
Mr. A. K. R. S p e n c e and Mrs. R. T h a t c h e r
o f Alorganic Ltd., L o n d o n .
BLUNI)I:N El- AL.: ('OMMI:'RCIAL COLI, ECJION AND UTILLg'A TION OF MA'I~RL
Water-soluble extractive %
3 4 1 2 3 4
0.73 0.73 0.77 0.60
0.91 0.92 0.81 0.71
I,ITERATURECITEI)
1. Chapman, V. J. 1970. Seaweeds and their
uses. 2nd ed., Methuen, London.
2. Booth, E. 1965. The manurial value of
seaweed. Bot. Mar. 8: 138-143.
3. Cabioch, L. 1968. Contribution /t la con-
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Manche occidentale. Cah. Biol. Mar. 9:
493-720.
4. Pruvot, G. 1897. Essai sur les fonds et la
faune de la Manche occidentale (cbtes de
Bretagne) compar6s fi ceux du Golfe du
Lion. Arch. Zool. exp. g~n. 5: 511-617.
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morphologique, anatomique et syst~mat-
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c a l c a r e u m et L. corallioides. Bot. Mar. 9:
33-53.
6. Adey, W. H. and D. L. McKibbin. 1970.
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calcareum (Pallas) nov. comb. and Lilho-
t h a m n i u m coralloides in the Ria de Vigo.
Bot. Mar. 13: 100-106.
7. Jacquotte, R. 1962. Etude des fonds de
Mabrl de M6diterran~e. Rec. Trav. St. Mar.
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8. Cabioeh, J. 1969. Les fonds de mai~rl de la
bale de Morlaix et leur peuplement v6g6tal.
Cah. Biol. Mar. 10: 139-161.
9. Boillot, G. 1961. La r6partition des s~di-
ments en bale de Morlaix et en bale de
Siec. Cah. Biol. Mar. 2: 53-66.
10. British Pharmacopoeia. 1968. Determina-
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nation of water-soluble extractive p. 1277.
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12. Neveu, M. 1961. Contribution fi l'~tude du
traitement des eaux d'alimentation par le
L i t h o t h a m n i u m c a l c a r e u m . In: Chimie et
Physieo-Chimie des Principes [mm~diats
Tir~s des Algues. Colloques int. du C.N.R.S.
No. 103, Dinard, Sept. 1960.
t45