His business was named "Gulf of America Outfitters" 3 years before Trump's order. Now he says business is booming.
Louisiana resident Adam Petersen was ahead of the curve when he named his Cajun charter fishing boat company "Gulf of America Outfitters." The name wasn't meant to be a political statement, but a symbol of the local community's connection to the environment, he said.
"It hit home for a lot of people. It was more of an ode to the folks that we felt like it represented," Petersen said.
And while he insists the name is "still not political" — it has recently become just that.
President Trump signed a flurry of executive orders on his first day in office. One of them renamed the Gulf of Mexico, at least on U.S. government maps, from what the world has called it since the 1500s.
In Tulane University's map archives, historian Blake Gilpin pointed to original antique maps that clearly mark the body of water as the Gulf of Mexico.
"It's not ours. It's always been an international body of water, but also an international trade network," Gilpin said.
Mexico and the U.S. share a nearly equal number of coastline miles along the gulf, with Mexico having about 60 miles more coastline than the U.S. Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama all have gulf coastlines. Within about half the gulf, the U.S. has sovereign rights for exploring, managing natural resources and jurisdiction, as international law allows, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information.
Gilpin acknowledges that Mr. Trump's order has set off a political debate.
"It's like the quickest way to tell what is someone's politics. Do you support Gulf of America or do you not? You're going to know what part of the political spectrum they hail from," Gilpin said.
Peterson supports Mr. Trump's break from precedent — but for commercial reasons.
"Business is booming...February, we saw 540% growth, which I would say is a pretty big deal. I can't deny that there was an impact from the name change," Petersen said.
Then again, up and down the Gulf coast, most people don't use either name. They simply call it, "The Gulf."
