For a man who has spent all of his life hunting; whose boats have hooked, gaffed and scooped up everything from Agulhus octopus to Patagonian toothfish; there is something surprisingly elegant about JG Fernandes.
He shuffles up the stairs of his Waterfront office in comfortable loafers, with a retro leather briefcase under his arm. His pink collar shirt has a paisley collar inlay, and his wristwatch is not the kind one associates with fish guts and diesel engines. He is genuinely coy when posing for a photograph in front of a framed Chinese seascape.
Not what you’d expect from South Africa’s Rock Lobster King.
But the boss of Lusitania Fishing is full of surprises. Not least the fact that he is still hard at work on a Saturday morning, grafted to the helm of the company he founded 40-odd years ago. Now 75, Fernandes is, to those in the know, as much a part of the local fishing industry as snoek and slaptjips. A pioneer, a businessman, a raconteur, and a natty dresser – his reputation precedes him, and the endless chirping of his cell phone suggests he is still very much in demand.
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