106
A. D. BONEY
a few are free-floating. The large scale economics of seaweed utilization
have shown alternating periods of expansion and contraction as a
particular product has subsequently given way to a cheaper source
and means of production. For the brown seaweed industry of the
British Isles this state of affairs has been ably summarized recently
by Booth (1964a) with the comment that the industry had “ twice
died and been revived ”. The history and development of seaweed
utilization has been extensively surveyed over the years (e.g. Sauvageau,
1920; Hoffman, 1939; Delf, 1943) and more recently Chapman (1950),
Newton (1951), and Newton (1963). Some further accounts of a
similar nature are seen in the work of Brook (1949) and Kirby (1950,
195la,b) ; Humm (1951) described the economically important red
algae, whilst Sandford (1958) surveyed the wider field of general
utilization ; the potentialities of marine algae as food were described
by Palmer (1961), and Kurogi (1963a) has summarized recent work on
the edible seaweeds of Japan. With the bulk of the seaweed industry
concerned with organic extractives there are a number of reviews on the
chemicals obtainable and their utilization. Thus Tseng (1946) reviewed
seaweed polysaccharides, and the manufacture of various algal chemicals has been described by Woodward (1951) and Black et al. (1953).
Perrin (1955) and Cook (1957) have also given general accounts of
chemicals from seaweeds, whilst Mautner (1954) dealt in some detail
with the chemical products of brown algae. Schmid (1959, 1960)
described the chemical products of red algae and their main sources,
whilst a more recent summary of seaweed products and extractives is
to be found in the work of Berger (1961) ; an interesting approach to
the biochemical aspects of taxonomy of red algae has been given by
Stoloff (1962). Some indication of the extent of the references now
available on all aspects of seaweed utilization may be seen in the
collected bibliographies published by the Nova Scotia Research
Foundation (Nos. 1 and 2, 1953 ; No. 3, 1955 ; No. 4,1958 ; No. 5,1960).
Many of the practical aspects of seaweed harvesting and processing
have been studied by the Institute of Seaweed Research at Inveresk,
Scotland.
This brief summary gives in outline some of the data already
available, and to present a further review clearly calls for some definition of the terms of reference at the outset. Since many of the publications mentioned above deal in a comprehensive manner with seaweed
products and their uses it is not intended to review this aspect in detail.
Commercial exploitation of the world’s seaweed supplies appears to
be based on two conflicting viewpoints (Delf, 1944), the one considering
that the available stocks are inexhaustible and the other proposing the
A. D. BONEY
a few are free-floating. The large scale economics of seaweed utilization
have shown alternating periods of expansion and contraction as a
particular product has subsequently given way to a cheaper source
and means of production. For the brown seaweed industry of the
British Isles this state of affairs has been ably summarized recently
by Booth (1964a) with the comment that the industry had “ twice
died and been revived ”. The history and development of seaweed
utilization has been extensively surveyed over the years (e.g. Sauvageau,
1920; Hoffman, 1939; Delf, 1943) and more recently Chapman (1950),
Newton (1951), and Newton (1963). Some further accounts of a
similar nature are seen in the work of Brook (1949) and Kirby (1950,
195la,b) ; Humm (1951) described the economically important red
algae, whilst Sandford (1958) surveyed the wider field of general
utilization ; the potentialities of marine algae as food were described
by Palmer (1961), and Kurogi (1963a) has summarized recent work on
the edible seaweeds of Japan. With the bulk of the seaweed industry
concerned with organic extractives there are a number of reviews on the
chemicals obtainable and their utilization. Thus Tseng (1946) reviewed
seaweed polysaccharides, and the manufacture of various algal chemicals has been described by Woodward (1951) and Black et al. (1953).
Perrin (1955) and Cook (1957) have also given general accounts of
chemicals from seaweeds, whilst Mautner (1954) dealt in some detail
with the chemical products of brown algae. Schmid (1959, 1960)
described the chemical products of red algae and their main sources,
whilst a more recent summary of seaweed products and extractives is
to be found in the work of Berger (1961) ; an interesting approach to
the biochemical aspects of taxonomy of red algae has been given by
Stoloff (1962). Some indication of the extent of the references now
available on all aspects of seaweed utilization may be seen in the
collected bibliographies published by the Nova Scotia Research
Foundation (Nos. 1 and 2, 1953 ; No. 3, 1955 ; No. 4,1958 ; No. 5,1960).
Many of the practical aspects of seaweed harvesting and processing
have been studied by the Institute of Seaweed Research at Inveresk,
Scotland.
This brief summary gives in outline some of the data already
available, and to present a further review clearly calls for some definition of the terms of reference at the outset. Since many of the publications mentioned above deal in a comprehensive manner with seaweed
products and their uses it is not intended to review this aspect in detail.
Commercial exploitation of the world’s seaweed supplies appears to
be based on two conflicting viewpoints (Delf, 1944), the one considering
that the available stocks are inexhaustible and the other proposing the