What's in a Name for the Deep Blue Gulf?

Gulf of Amexico

When the President of the United States recently issued an executive order to officially change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the polarized global response revealed the passion many hold for its serene and calming—albeit strategically important—warm waters.

What's In a Name?

While some view this as President Trump declaring his love of both golf and Gulf, as with everything in modern politics, this unabashedly pro-American move also highlights American-Mexican relations during a time of immigration strife, cartel turmoil, environmental upheaval, and the ongoing climate change debate.

The Gulf is the ninth largest body of water on earth. According to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, 50% of America's petroleum and natural gas capacity is located along the Gulf, while the Environmental Defense Fund cites that the area supplies 40% of U.S. seafood.

The More Things Change

Economics aside, the environment of southeast Louisiana continues to struggle with coastal erosion, wildlife trauma, oil drilling, and subsequent spills, with each stimulating sometimes aggressive but necessary dialogue about courses of action. According to ABC News, "a football field of wetlands vanishes into open water every 100 minutes."

Dylan Becnel, a featured character on both Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch, as well as another show on the network VooDoo Crew, said, "While oil and gas might be considered 'hard resources,' the Gulf of America provides a plethora of sport, entertainment, and leisure to locals, and visitors alike with offshore fishing being the most common."

OutDoorTV, the program's production company, described VooDoo Crew as follows: "The series follows the day-to-day operations of the VooDoo Charters company that runs out of Venice, Louisiana. In the season debut, cameras follow the crew from sunrise to sunset while chronicling the everyday lives of the captains, deckhands, staffers, and clients that board the boats at dawn in hope of returning later in the day with a giant fish. There is nothing scripted and 'fishy' about the stories that viewers will see in this real-life snapshot of the high-stakes charter fishing world."

While shows like VooDoo Crew celebrate the democratization that open waters bring to the sport, deep sea fishing fans of the celebrity ilk, including Johnny Depp, Zach Efron, Cameron Diaz, Clint Eastwood, Matthew McConaughey, and Kevin Costner, have expressed a passion for fighting "The Big Fish," which can take hours. Now this would be some good TV.

On its website, Plaquemines Parish Tourism also provides other types of location-based activities. Research of said activities shows everything from kayak fishing, sharking, bow fishing, frogging, tours, and even the harvesting of alligator eggs.

One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish

While other states along the Gulf Coast, which also include Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida, enjoy blue/green water and white sand-filled beaches, Louisiana is, as in most ways, a tad different.

The Mississippi River, which begins as a trickle from Canada, empties itself into the Mississippi River Basin, which merges sediment like the ancient flooding of the Nile River Valley with swampland most similar to the Florida Everglades. The water is not crystal blue but brackish brown, and the beloved white sands of the "Redneck Riviera" have been replaced by swampland and moss-covered trees, and, of course, the local fauna.

Ralph Brennan, a member of the famed "first family of restaurants," told the Food Network after Hurricane Katrina and leading up to the BP Oil Spill that southeast Louisiana's valuable region "has a perception problem." His RBRGreen is his group's sustainable program that focus on reducing waste, protecting wildlife, stimulating industry, and sourcing local ingredients, according to their website neworleans-food.com.

The website also states, "RBRG restaurants have invested over $2,000,000 to enable meaningful work of 1,100-profit organizations via 3,500 charitable gifts."

Sodium and Sea Creatures

Another unique trait of the Louisiana Gulf Coast is its intersection of salt and fresh water, with the salted gulf waters moving further and further north and upriver, disturbing Plaquemines Parish's famous citrus crop and even contaminating drinking water. This unique meta-climate once again raises economic and environmental concerns for the keeper of America's most valuable resources.

Of course, we're still Louisianans—kings and queens of the Land of Festivals, and Belle Chasse's most famous one turns its most famous fruit into a combination of food, fun, family, and fruit-based play. Besides the regular festival trinity of music, art, and food, the Plaquemines Parish Fair and Orange Festival integrates a sense of community competition amongst its offerings. These nontraditional games include the following, according to New Orleans Magazine, kumquat stuffing, orange eating, orange peeling, duck calling, shrimp de-heading, catfish skinning, and oyster shucking.

The festival's website, plaqueminesparishseafood.com, states, "The Plaquemines Parish Seafood Festival celebrates the rich heritage of the people of Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana. Visitors will enjoy great local seafood and other unique, local food specialties. The festival offers continuous live music from popular local bands and traditional swamp pop music."

"If Louisiana is a Sportsmen's Paradise, then the Miss River is the main artery flowing to its heart, the Gulf," said Jeffrey Rhodes, a charter boat captain with locations in Venice, LA and Panama City Beach, FL. He continued, "Luckily, I get to take in the offerings of this very unique experience across the region."

Perhaps the Gulf is just a nexus of sorts, he mused. The river meets gulf, brown meets blue, salt meets fresh, America meets Mexico. And let's not forget—from restauranteurs to reality TV and fishermen to farmers—old meets new.

Some would explain Plaquemines Parish as "the last McDonald's before you hit the end of the world."

"Or the beginning," concluded Becnel.