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Captain Kelvin "RED" Bailey: Captain Turned Conservationist

The seas surrounding the Virgin Islands are overflowing with more than 500 species of fish. If Captain Kelvin "Red" Bailey has his way, this wealth of finned life will continue rather than wane in the years to come.

"The ocean provides food for the people of our islands and some mighty fine meals for our visitors, too," says Bailey, nicknamed for his red hair and an icon on the bridge of his Custom 44-foot sports fisherman, Abigail III. "If we don't conserve this resource now, it won't be available for future generations."

One sentence spoken by the legendary Florida sportfishing captain, Tommy Gifford, launched Bailey's 40-plus-year career on the sea.

"Gifford said to me, 'If you're interested son, you can start tomorrow,'" Bailey recalls, about the fateful day he traveled to Johnny Harms Lagoon Marina (now the Fish Hawk Marina) to buy fresh fish for a hotel restaurant and Gifford caught him looking longingly at the big fishing rigs.

"That tomorrow was many, many years ago," he says, "and I've kept showing up ever since."

Bailey has seen his share of fish over the years, and in doing so, helped put St. Thomas on the map as an international sportfishing destination. In the 1960s, he helmed while Virgin Islands Gamefishing Club anglers would see who could catch the "Big Five" — blue marlin, white marlin, sailfish, yellowfin tuna and wahoo — first for the day. One of the captain's biggest claims to fame came on September 16, 1971, when he drove while angler Frank Miller reeled in a record catch of a 448-pound blue marlin on a very light 12-pound test line.

It was in the early '80s that Bailey started to see something amiss.

"The entire fleet would take a whole year to catch the number of sailfish one boat would during a day in the early years," he says, as an example.

Captain turned conservationist, Bailey became a mover-and-shaker in the fish-protection arena. He's one of the early proponents of tag-and-release for billfish. This technique requires that crew members place a research tag in the fish before releasing them back into the sea. The fish live and scientists learn migratory patterns, feeding habits and even spawning locales as a result. He's also promoted the use of single hooks, rather than double hooks that can gouge out a fish's eye or fasten its mouth shut if it's released with this type of hook still attached.

"The good news," says Bailey, "is that thanks to these efforts, we've seen fish, such as blue marlin, rebound in record numbers."

This positive effect isn't just in Virgin Islands' waters, but throughout the Caribbean. Bailey, a native of Antigua, has a voice and curriculum vitae that has earned him audiences with Caribbean heads of state on conservation matters… and the assured respect to be heard.