Latest news with #HighSeas
News.com.au
17-07-2025
- Entertainment
- News.com.au
Eerie clue missing cruiser still alive 27 years on
Embarking on her first ever Caribbean cruise, Amy Bradley was excited for the luxury trip ahead. Her insurance agent parents, Ron and Iva, had won the once-in-a-lifetime holiday for being top of the annual sales list and were delighted that their children – Amy, 23, and Brad, 21 – were allowed to join them. But the family's dream holiday turned to tragedy on the high seas when Amy disappeared without trace – sparking a mystery that remains unsolved 27 years later. The lively, vivacious young woman, who had soon made friends among staff and passengers, often stayed up with brother Brad after their parents headed back to the cabin on the Rhapsody of the Seas cruise liner. On the third night aboard she was letting her hair down and planned to head to the ship's nightclub after bidding Iva and Ron goodnight. 'I said 'I love you' as I headed back to the cabin, and she said, 'I love you, too, Mum. I'll see you in the morning.' And we went to bed,' recalls Iva. But Iva was not to see her fun-loving daughter ever again. Somehow, during the early hours of the morning of March 24, 1998, she vanished. Did she drunkenly fall overboard, take her own life, or hide on the ship and leave when it docked the following day – or was she taken against her will? There have been many theories over the years and several 'sightings' of Amy, but one thing is for certain – her family are convinced she is still alive. 'Twenty seven years of looking for Amy every day. It's a life goal,' says Iva. 'In my quiet times it's like, 'What did we miss?' I know somebody knows something.' Amy's disappearance is examined in the new three-part Netflix documentary Amy Bradley Is Missing, which explores the various leads and purported sightings over the years with interviews from suspects, family and friends. On that fateful night, the ship had just left Aruba when Ron and Iva went to bed around 1am. 'We went up to the disco because that was the last place that was open,' says Brad. 'We weren't ready to turn in yet. We were having drinks and listening to music and having a great time.' After a while he indicated to Amy, above the noise, that they should call it a night and he headed back to the cabin at 3.35am. 'My parents were sleeping,' he remembers. 'I went out onto the balcony and five minutes later, Amy came back to the room. 'We were both finishing our drinks and hanging out and talking about the next day. She brought up that someone she had been dancing and talking to during the course of the evening made some sort of physical pass at her. 'She told me it was the bass player from the band. She didn't make a big deal of it, just mentioned it in passing. 'At that point we were both tipsy. It was time for bed. She said, 'I don't feel too good. I'm going to sit right here with all the fresh air and the wind.' 'I told her I loved her and would see her tomorrow and shut the glass door behind me and I went to bed.' Brad would not see her again – but her father did, briefly. 'I remember waking somewhere around 5.30 in the morning,' says Ron. 'Brad had come in and gone to bed, but I didn't see Amy in there. 'I saw her legs and feet, sitting in a lounge chair on the balcony, and told myself, 'Well, she's safe.' 'About six o'clock, something woke me again. I don't know what it was but when I looked out, she wasn't there. 'I noticed that the balcony door was open about 12 to 14 inches, the shirt that she had on that night was laying on the chair in the room and her cigarettes weren't there. 'So I'm thinking she's changed her clothes and has left the room to get a coffee and take pictures, because we were coming into port.' Amy's shoes were on the balcony neatly placed beside the little table. 'I left the room, leaving the others asleep and figured that I would find her in a few minutes and then everything would be good,' says Ron. 'But when I didn't, that's when I came back and told Iva, 'I can't find Amy'.' Becoming increasingly concerned, Ron and Iva reported their daughter's disappearance at the purser's desk and a call went out over the tannoy system asking for her to make contact. By now people were starting to disembark for the next stop, Curacao. 'They were still all going on their merry way, laughing, talking, and there we were, looking for our daughter. It was what nightmares are made of,' says Ron. At 9am a full search of the ship by staff found no trace of Amy. The immediate assumption was that she had gone overboard and so a search took place at sea between Curacao and Aruba involving the Venezuelan Coast Guard and Navy. 'Our waters have a very strong current, so something should wash ashore,' says Curacao harbour police chief, Adtzere 'John' Mentar. 'Because of the position of the boat, wind force, sea current, wave height, the body would have washed up. But she was nowhere to be found. 'We have sharks but the shark will not eat her completely. Something, maybe a leg or an arm, would have washed ashore. It is very strange.' The incident hit news headlines and two days after Amy went missing the FBI boarded the ship, but were frustrated to find that if there was any evidence in the cabin, it had been cleaned away by room service. The Bradleys were all interviewed together and separately. 'I said to Iva, 'You understand why they are interviewing us separately? It's because we're suspects,'' Ron recalls. Ultimately the FBI found no evidence that led them to consider a family member was responsible. Mystery conversation Establishing an accurate timeline leading up to Amy's disappearance has been difficult. What is certain is that she returned to the cabin at 3.40am from the nightclub, because the electronic key card kept a record. But no one knows if she left the room after that as the key is not used when exiting. The FBI also interviewed others of interest, such as Wayne Breitag, the passenger in the adjoining cabin. 'I told them that I saw Amy Bradley at the disco that night around two o'clock because I went there to see what was going on and I just observed and sat down and, yeah, looking for girls, whatever,' he says. 'That night I probably was back in the room by 2.30 … I don't remember hearing anything from their room. That's why it was a real surprise to me that this stuff happened.' Iva says: 'I told the FBI, Wayne Breitag would come out on his balcony next to us and lean over the partition to talk to Amy. 'He was just odd. The passengers in the cabin on the other side of him said that after Amy disappeared, his TV or radio was at a level of, 'You gotta be kidding me.' 'They could hear him talking inside of his room, even over the sound of the loud TV or radio. I thought, 'Well, who's he talking to?'' After posters of Amy were stuck up on the ship, several people came forward to talk to the investigators, including Chris Fenwick. He worked for a computer company in San Francisco that had organised a trip for its top sales people and had been editing some footage that his cameraman had been taking at the nightclub that evening for a 'highlights reel'. 'I remember seeing Amy. She was the life and soul of the party,' he says. 'I went through my box of tapes and until I found her and she's dancing with Yellow.' Yellow was the nickname of the bass guitarist in the band, Alister Douglas. Lori Thompson, then 18, told the FBI that she and her friend had got talking with Amy at the nightclub and later, between five and six in the morning. She claimed she saw Amy and Yellow in the glass elevator going up to the nightclub even though it was closed. Then, 10 to 15 minutes later, she said Yellow walked briskly past them alone, without saying a word. 'I thought it was strange because in the nightclub he had tried to get us to talk to him,' Lori says. 'I got a bad vibe. Immediately I thought, 'Where's Amy?'' In his interview with the FBI, Yellow admitted that he knew who Amy was and had flirted with her, but said that was the kind of thing he does. In a polygraph test he vehemently denied having anything to do with her disappearance. The results were not conclusive and the FBI released him due to having no evidence to charge him in Amy's disappearance. Sex trafficking fear Back home in Virginia the family felt powerless, so Ron and Brad returned to Curacao to hold a press conference. Afterwards they were approached by a taxi driver, named Deshi, who said he had spoken to a frantic-looking Amy on the island when she asked for directions to a phone box. 'He said, 'You need to go to Kadushi Cliffs and look around but don't talk to anybody because it was dangerous',' recalls Ron. It was the first indication Amy was alive. Worried about their safety, harbour police chief Adtzere 'John' Mentar accompanied them. 'Curacao is a very lovely island but the crime we have here is drug-related because we are not too far from Venezuela,' says John. 'We also have some prostitution on the island and sometimes sex trafficking. She could have been lured off the ship. Someone might be able to sweet-talk her.' On a remote car trip at one o'clock in the morning, Brad was sure he heard his sister. He says: 'We were driving along this little dirt path and I distinctly heard Amy's voice say, 'Brad!' in what seemed like a vehicle that was passing us. 'I freaked out and spun around and asked everybody if they heard it and they said they did. 'We turned round and followed the car into a backstreet, fully expecting we were going to pull the guy over and she would be in the car, but it ended up being just an old dude by himself. 'I know what it sounds like when Amy calls me. This was very distinct. I've never been so sure of anything in my life that that's what I heard.' Beach sighting Ron is also convinced his daughter is still alive. Over the years there have been several more credible sightings, often from people whose memories have been jolted after the family has appealed for information on TV chat shows. Among the identifying features was a distinctive tattoo of the Tasmanian Devil cartoon animal on Amy's left shoulder blade. David Carmichael told the FBI that he and his friend had been on a diving trip at Porto Maries, Curacao, when he was convinced he saw Amy and two men walking towards them along the beach. He noticed her Tasmanian Devil tattoo and was about to say something when he was unsettled by the larger man staring at him. He believes the other man was Alister Douglas. Bill Heffner, from Nevada, said he was in the US Navy in January 1999 when he walked into a bar in Curacao and met a white girl with tattoos who told him her name was Amy Bradley, and she was being held there against her will by armed men. 'I had heard all kinds of stories from working girls in Singapore and Thailand and I just kind of took it with a pinch of salt and I left,' he says. 'It wasn't until 2001 when I saw her picture in a magazine feature that I connected the dots.' The family was emailed pictures in May 2001 of a woman who resembled Amy, posing provocatively on a prostitution website in the Venezuela area. An FBI forensic analyst studied the photos, measured things like the chin, ear and eyes, and believed that it was Amy. But police inquiries led nowhere. Eerie 'premonition' At college Amy had come out as gay to her family and friends. In 1998, she told her girlfriend, Mollie McClure, that she had kissed another girl after they had been drinking, but that it didn't mean anything and that it had helped confirm her feelings for Mollie. But Mollie told her that she needed time to process this and stopped answering her calls, so she sent Mollie a letter – a message in a bottle – asking for her forgiveness. It has a heart-aching resonance of her going missing at sea with the comment: 'I feel like there is an ocean between us. Like I'm on a desert island waiting for you to rescue me. A message in a bottle is my only hope. I miss you, Mollie. Save me please. Stranded, Amy.' Mollie says there have been suspicions that this note, which she sent one month before her disappearance, may have had deeper meaning. 'Because of the circumstances of her going missing a month to the day that she sent me this letter, and also it being a message in a bottle, the convenience of the metaphor is ripe for misunderstanding,' says Mollie. 'It could suggest suicide but I don't connect with it in that way. For me, it is a love letter. 'After the message I reached out to her and we got together a few days before she left for the cruise. 'She wanted me to meet the dog she had adopted and to see her new apartment. I knew we were going to make it work and we had planned that we would see each other after the cruise at Easter. 'She was incredibly excited about the trip. She had written me a postcard that arrived after I had got word she was missing. I'm a photographer so she referenced taking photos and then she said, 'I wish you were here'.' Wherever she is now remains a mystery, but the Bradleys will never give up their search. 'We've lost a lot of years of our life, searching, but we won't stop,' says Iva. 'Somebody knows something. We were told by an FBI agent, 'Keep your lights on. Nobody can keep a secret their entire life'.' 'We keep her car in the garage at home, out of the weather and polished,' adds Ron. 'It's going to be pristine when she gets here. And then she'll get to drive it again.' Amy Bradley Is Missing is available to stream on Netflix from today.
Time of India
17-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding
A UN push for investment to protect the world's oceans yielded around $10 billion in deals at a conference last week, way below the estimated annual need as many investors seek clearer regulation on ocean management before committing funds. While political leaders at the United Nations conference in Nice took steps to tackle overfishing and pollution threatening delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them, getting countries to agree to better governance has proven tough. Just 50 countries have so far ratified a new High Seas treaty which sets out rules agreed by more than 130 nations in 2023 to govern international waters and clamp down on harmful practices. The United States, pulled out of various climate initiatives by President Donald Trump, is among those yet to ratify the treaty. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like War Thunder - Register now for free and play against over 75 Million real Players War Thunder Play Now Undo The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date, said Oliver Withers, head of nature at British lender Standard Chartered. "The major dynamic that doesn't apply to terrestrial is the high seas don't belong to any one individual sovereign," he said. "It is a significant challenge, there is no single sovereign responsible for the high seas." Live Events Of the deals chalked up in France, the bulk came from public sector banks, including $2.5 billion in funding by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) from a group of development banks to fight plastic pollution. Discover the stories of your interest Blockchain 5 Stories Cyber-safety 7 Stories Fintech 9 Stories E-comm 9 Stories ML 8 Stories Edtech 6 Stories While a step up, the total figure falls far short of what is needed. Between 2015 and 2019, only $10 billion was invested against the UN estimate of $175 billion in required annual funding. "Public finance isn't enough but private finance is even less. So I think it's a space in its infancy," said Francine Pickup, Deputy Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support at the UN Development Programme. Pickup said improving the policy backdrop and regulation, including removing subsidies she said encouraged harmful practices such as overfishing, was key, followed by the creation of a pipeline of investments including in start-ups focused on ocean-related technology. To date, the sector has received just a small slice of overall funds, data shared with Reuters by industry tracker Sightline Climate showed. Between 2020 and 2025, ocean tech received just 0.4% of the $202 billion invested across all sectors during that period, although the data showed a stronger start to 2025. "What we seek as investors is that governments and the policymakers address systemic risks," said Robert-Alexandre Poujade, biodiversity lead at BNP Paribas Asset Management, adding he would welcome the treaty "if it has lots of teeth and enforcement mechanisms". Fixing the funding shortfall also requires a concerted effort by policymakers and investors to tackle overlapping challenges to protecting marine biodiversity and ocean health. A warming planet is heating up the oceans, exacerbating effects such as water acidification and coral bleaching that climate scientists say will be improved if the world manages to cut carbon emissions as planned. Overfishing and polluting sea vessels, offshore oil drilling and, potentially, deep-sea mining that collectively damage ocean health also require firmer policy action, scientists, ocean experts and investors say. While action has hitherto been slow, there were signs of progress in Nice, as more than 20 countries backed a call by France to prevent deep sea mining; and a number of fresh Marine Protected Areas were created. "In a sense the ocean is the last area that we have been pillaging without thinking about tomorrow," said Flavien Jouber, Seychelles' minister for agriculture climate change and environment, describing it as a "sense of free-for-all".
Yahoo
16-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Analysis-Investors want clear ocean management rules to scale up funding
By Simon Jessop, Virginia Furness and Kate Abnett LONDON (Reuters) -A U.N. push for investment to protect the world's oceans yielded around $10 billion in deals at a conference last week, way below the estimated annual need as many investors seek clearer regulation on ocean management before committing funds. While political leaders at the United Nations conference in Nice took steps to tackle overfishing and pollution threatening delicate ecosystems and the people who depend on them, getting countries to agree to better governance has proven tough. Just 50 countries have so far ratified a new High Seas treaty which sets out rules agreed by more than 130 nations in 2023 to govern international waters and clamp down on harmful practices. The United States, pulled out of various climate initiatives by President Donald Trump, is among those yet to ratify the treaty. The lack of a clear governing framework and robust ocean-related data has stymied private sector finance to date, said Oliver Withers, head of nature at British lender Standard Chartered. "The major dynamic that doesn't apply to terrestrial is the high seas don't belong to any one individual sovereign," he said. "It is a significant challenge, there is no single sovereign responsible for the high seas." Of the deals chalked up in France, the bulk came from public sector banks, including $2.5 billion in funding by the Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF) and 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) from a group of development banks to fight plastic pollution. While a step up, the total figure falls far short of what is needed. Between 2015 and 2019, only $10 billion was invested against the U.N. estimate of $175 billion in required annual funding. "Public finance isn't enough but private finance is even less. So I think it's a space in its infancy," said Francine Pickup, Deputy Director, Bureau for Policy and Programme Support at the U.N. Development Programme. Pickup said improving the policy backdrop and regulation, including removing subsidies she said encouraged harmful practices such as overfishing, was key, followed by the creation of a pipeline of investments including in start-ups focused on ocean-related technology. To date, the sector has received just a small slice of overall funds, data shared with Reuters by industry tracker Sightline Climate showed. Between 2020 and 2025, ocean tech received just 0.4% of the $202 billion invested across all sectors during that period, although the data showed a stronger start to 2025. "What we seek as investors is that governments and the policymakers address systemic risks," said Robert-Alexandre Poujade, biodiversity lead at BNP Paribas Asset Management, adding he would welcome the treaty "if it has lots of teeth and enforcement mechanisms". Fixing the funding shortfall also requires a concerted effort by policymakers and investors to tackle overlapping challenges to protecting marine biodiversity and ocean health. A warming planet is heating up the oceans, exacerbating effects such as water acidification and coral bleaching that climate scientists say will be improved if the world manages to cut carbon emissions as planned. Overfishing and polluting sea vessels, offshore oil drilling and, potentially, deep-sea mining that collectively damage ocean health also require firmer policy action, scientists, ocean experts and investors say. While action has hitherto been slow, there were signs of progress in Nice, as more than 20 countries backed a call by France to prevent deep sea mining; and a number of fresh Marine Protected Areas were created. "In a sense the ocean is the last area that we have been pillaging without thinking about tomorrow," said Flavien Jouber, Seychelles' minister for agriculture climate change and environment, describing it as a "sense of free-for-all". ($1 = 0.8693 euros)
News24
15-06-2025
- Politics
- News24
What is the High Seas Treaty and why does it matter?
There has been much hype about the United Nations High Seas Treaty at the United National Ocean Conference happening in Nice this week. But what are the High Seas and why are they important? And what will the Treaty achieve? Dr Judy Mann explains. What are the High Seas and why are they important? Extending 370 kilometres offshore is the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of each nation with a coastline. This is the part of the ocean that each coastal nation has the right to exploit and the responsibility to manage. The rest of the ocean is referred to as the High Seas. Collectively covering almost half of the planet, the High Seas are all the parts of the ocean that are not 'owned' by any nation – the areas beyond territorial waters. These vast stretches of ocean are incredibly important to humanity. They act as a carbon sink for about a quarter of the carbon dioxide generated by burning fossil fuels, they provide about half of the oxygen we need to breathe, and they provide fish and other marine resources to feed billions of people. In fact, the health of the High Seas is critical for the health of humanity. Right now, only about 1% of the High Seas are protected. READ | EXPLAINER | What will the UN high seas treaty mean for protecting the ocean? The High Seas have always been a 'free for all' - massive stretches of ocean where every country has the right to navigate, catch fish, lay submarine cables and pipelines and do research. But the resources of the High Seas – the fish and other biological resources, as well as the minerals in the seabed belong to all of us – not only the nations rich enough to exploit them. The world needed a system to manage the High Seas in a way that is fair and equitable to everyone, and that benefits all of humanity. What is the High Seas Treaty? After more than 10 years of negotiation, the member states of the Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction finally reached consensus and the High Seas Treaty was signed in New York City, US on 4 March 2023. By signing the Treaty, nations acknowledge the rights and responsibilities of all to act as stewards to protect the ocean for current and future generations. What will the Treaty achieve? The High Seas Treaty is a legally binding document in which all member states commit to the conservation and sustainable use of the High Seas. While the Treaty will not directly help nations to deliver against the 30x30 global protection target, it does provide a framework for establishing Marine Protected Areas in the High Seas. The Treaty also addresses how to modernise environmental impact assessments to ensure better consistency in the measurement of the impact of human activities on the ocean. The sharing of benefits from marine genetic resources and capacity building and technology transfer are other focus areas of the Treaty. The Treaty also contains measures to protect traditional knowledge and acknowledge the contribution of local communities. What now? The signing of the Treaty was step one – now we need ratification by at least 60 member states and then implementation needs to happen. This is a complex task and one that has been ongoing since 2023. So far in Nice this week, 20 countries have ratified the treaty, joining the 31 countries and the EU which have already ratified it. So, nine to go! To date 135 countries have signed the Treaty, including South Africa. South Africa has not yet ratified it. Signature is the first step by a country that shows its intention to be bound by the terms of the treaty. Ratification is the formal approval of the treaty by a country's government. Signature is the first step, while ratification means that the country is serious as it legally binds the country to the terms of the treaty. Both ratification and signature are crucial in ensuring that international agreements are legally binding and enforceable. Ratification is important, but without the true commitment of every nation, all the money in the world will not make the Treaty a success. What is needed is a deep acknowledgement that caring for the ocean is the only way to ensure that our children will inherit a habitable planet, followed by true commitment and actions to implement the Treaty as soon as possible. Dr Judy Mann is executive for strategic projects at Two Oceans Aquarium Foundation.
