Abstract
Abstract The Northeast Atlantic stock of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) numbers ≈87,000 animals. In this report we estimate the food requirements of this stock from the energy requirements of growing and adult animals. The daily energy expenditure of free-swimming whales has been estimated by Blix and Folkow [1] to be 80 kJ/kg per day. This value includes the heat increment of fat deposition, growth and gestation. The additional energy costs of fattening and growth, determined from carcass analysis of whales caught in spring and autumn, was 17 and 8% of their total daily energy requirements, respectively. Based on an age-length relationship it was assumed that 73% of the population was growing, and 100% of all females older than 11 years were pregnant. By use of current estimates of the composition of the diet of Northeast Atlantic minke whales along with information on the seasonal changes in energy density of prey, it was calculated that this population consumes of the order of 1.4 million tonnes of various prey, during an assumed average stay of 6 months in the Northeast Atlantic. The deposited energy (blubber, muscle and visceral fat) does not cover more than about 60 days of the assumed energy requirements, when in other waters.
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