declared the trench and arc an IMMA, International Marine Mammal Area, and an MPA, Marine Protected Area. For example, the animals are at risk of, and suffer decimation and mutilation from, being run down inadvertently by ships. The ACCOBAMS keeps in contact with the navies of its members to try to avoid adverse encounters. Sometimes it conducts rescues of animals, and polices against hunting. The ACCOBAMS's Scientific Committee conducts investigations, manages data, and makes recommendations to member countries. Those currently include every state that borders on the Mediterranean. The Hellenic trench region is an ecosystem to sperm whales and other aquatic life and has been used by marine biologists to study the behaviour of various aquatic species. This is the trench where several earthquakes, including the 365 Crete earthquake, occurred. See also Extremes on Earth Santorini Mediterranean Ridge Aegean Sea Plate Hellenic arc 365 earthquake Footnotes Citations Reference bibliography Map of downloadable separately. External links Oceanography Extreme points of Earth Ionian Sea Landforms of the Mediterranean Sea Oceanic trenches of the Atlantic Ocean