Grand Cayman , Cayman Islands ( CNN ) -- Whether he 's out on the ocean monitoring stingrays in the Caribbean , or back on land painting in his studio , Guy Harvey spends all his time surrounded by fish . Raised in Jamaica and educated in Scotland , Harvey is one of the world 's leading conservationists with a first class degree in marine biology and a PhD in fisheries management . His love of the sea and ecology inspired Harvey to found the Guy Harvey Research Institute in 1999 which provides scientific information about fish protection and biodiversity . But this is only half of Harvey 's remarkable story . He is a highly successful businessman with a chain of seafood restaurants and a self-taught artist whose depictions of game fish have become world famous . `` I did n't go to art class or art school , never took a lesson in my life . I learned everything from trial and error and it 's this persistence , I suppose , with the illustrative content which got me to where I am , '' Harvey told CNN . Ernest Hemmingway 's novella , `` The Old Man and the Sea '' inspired Harvey 's obsession with game fish and moved him to depict the famous fishing story in a series of pen and ink drawings a quarter of a century ago . He paints every day and 10 percent of the proceeds of all the paintings he sells goes straight back into his eco-organizations . Harvey also created a TV series , `` Portraits of the Deep , '' to showcase game fish and their importance to the environment . `` To see them underwater in their glowing , feeding and moving colors , their aggression colors are probably one of the most exciting things you can do as a diver , '' Harvey said . These videos play constantly in his stores and his restaurants where Harvey 's art is also on the walls , and only sustainable fish species are on the menu . Harvey 's marine expertise has also helped to pioneer techniques of recording billfish underwater and a tagging system to monitor them over long distances . More recently , he 's taken on the plight of sharks . Hunted for their fins , the loss of these predators could affect the oceans ' fragile balance . Harvey 's recent Ultimate Shark Challenge was a catch-and-release fishing tournament held off the Southwest Florida coast . Endangered sharks were tagged for study and not a single one was strung up in the dock . Sharks are also in danger in the Gulf of Mexico because of the BP oil leak . Harvey fears other fish are at risk too . He 's planning a new line of t-shirts to raise funds for research . `` We have no idea when this is going to stop or how far it 's going to reach and what the life span of this disaster is going to be , '' Harvey said . From the study of stingrays , to the most pressing conservation issues in global fisheries , the diver , artist , scientist , and businessman is always promoting the preservation of marine ecology . `` Fish are just stinking fish to most people . They have their filet that comes on the plate or you buy it in the fish mongers and it comes in a cellophane bag and it 's dead and cold and smelly . These are beautiful graceful ocean predators that need our respect . `` I want to leave people feeling that , you know , we really need to think more about how we use the ocean and everything that 's in it and if I 've achieved that , then that will do it for me . ''
Guy Harvey has dedicated his adult life to the study and preservation of marine life . Self-taught artist inspired by Ernest Hemmingway 's story `` The Old Man and the Sea '' Set up Guy Harvey Research Institute in 1999 to further scientific knowledge of fish .