Cetacean observations were made from a platform of opportunity (a winter sea ice and oceanography research voyage) in Antarctic sea ice south of Tasmania. Minke whales and killer whales were sighted well within the sea ice. Minkes were found between 180–350 km south of the ice edge, while killer whales were nearly 450 km south of the ice edge. Minkes were sparsely distributed throughout the seasonal sea ice, even in areas of apparent total ice cover. Killer whales (including calves) were found at the northern edge of a major coastal polynya system. The winter sea ice is a complex and dynamic environment in which lead and polynya systems may enable travel and foraging by some cetacean species. While biological productivity is known to be reduced from summer levels, large numbers of seals, penguins – and possibly small numbers of whales – may be supported by krill and other biota intimately associated with the sea ice habitat during winter.

Information on diet composition, daily energy expenditure, energy storage and the utilization of energy in the prey are important factors when evaluating the food consumption of minke whales (Balaenoptera acutorostrata) during their summer stay in northern waters. The purpose of the present study was in this context to obtain information on the digestible energy (DE) of different prey selected by minke whales. An in vitro three-stage digestion technique, simulating the different compartments of the digestive system, has been developed. The initial step simulated the anaerobic microbial fermentation of substrate in the fortestomach. The next stage included the addition of pepsin (EC 3.4.23.1)–HCI, simulating ventricle enzymic decomposition, and finally, in the third step, fresh extract from duodenal contents was used to simulate enzymic intestinal degradation of the remaining components of the food. The inoculum was normally obtained from animals which had recently eaten the prey to be tested. In such tests we obtained a dry matter disappearance (DMD) and a DE for herring (Clupea harengus) of 80·4 (SD 5·0)% (n 18) and 92·1 (SD 3·7) % (n 16) respectively, and a DMD of krill (Thysanoessa sp.) of 83·4 (SD 4·9)% (n 6). The DMD of krill was reduced to 73·8 (SD 7·3)% (n 8) while the DE was 70·6 (SD 10·4) % (n 7) when inoculum from whales which had recently eaten cod (Gadus morhua) and haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus) was used. These results indicate a high digestibility of the most common species of prey in these animals, and also that the whales have little difficulty in changing from one prey species to another.