June 30, 2025
JASON MINTO/USA TODAY NETWORK
Bills introduced in New Jersey propose changing the Delaware Bay's name to the Bay of New Jersey and attempt to redraw the borders between New Jersey and Delaware. This photo shows the Cape May-Lewes Ferry on the Delaware Bay in 2015.
In a move reminiscent of the Trump administration's renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, one South Jersey politician wants to give the Delaware Bay a new name and rehash a territorial dispute with his state's southern neighbor over rights surrounding the body of water.
State Sen. Michael Testa, a Republican who represents parts of Cumberland, Atlantic and Cape May counties, introduced two bills last week that would assert New Jersey's interests in the body of water that shares shores with the Garden State and Delaware. The estuary outlet for the Delaware River spans about 780 square miles and is one of the country's busiest commercial waterways.
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On Friday, Testa posted a map of the bay on X, formerly Twitter, showing his proposed "Bay of New Jersey" name change. The bill would require the state to use the name in official government documents and signage.
BREAKING: I’ve officially introduced legislation that will formally recognize the Delaware Bay as the BAY OF NEW JERSEY!
— Mike Testa (@TestaForNJ) June 27, 2025
It’s time to Make New Jersey Great Again! 🫡 pic.twitter.com/009Kzjlmp0
"I look at the robust fishing industry – commercial fishing industry and recreational industry of the State of New Jersey," Testa told NJ.com. "I think that the fact that we have to call the bay that we fish in the Delaware Bay – they've had a claim to that long enough."
Testa became a state senator in 2019 after winning a special election for New Jersey's 1st Legislative District, which was vacated by Jeff Van Drew when he won a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Trump backed Testa in that special election, and Testa has since been re-elected twice.
One of Trump's first actions after his inauguration in January was renaming the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America, a largely symbolic gesture meant to flex U.S. geopolitical power on the world stage.
The Delaware Bay provides access to the ports of Philadelphia, Trenton and Wilmington. The Delaware River & Bay Authority – whose commissioners are appointed by the governors of Delaware and New Jersey – manages the Cape May-Lewes Ferry between the two states, and the U.S. Coast Guard also has a sector dedicated to the Delaware Bay.
If Testa's proposed legislation gains traction, there's a chance it could impact more than just the name of the bay.
His second bill aims to enter New Jersey into a "territorial boundary adjustment pact" with Delaware to revisit the two states' jurisdiction in the bay. New Jersey could try to gain more authority over the waterway and its bordering shoreline, which have been the subject of three U.S. Supreme Court cases since 1905 – all decided in Delaware's favor.
Most recently, in 2008, Delaware opposed New Jersey's approval of a plan for oil and gas company BP to build a liquefied natural gas plant on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River in Logan Township, Gloucester County. Even though the plant was proposed in New Jersey, the Supreme Court ruled that a 2,000-foot-long pier for the project could not extend into the river in an area controlled by Delaware.
The boundaries of the river and bay are still governed by a land grant from England during the colonial era. The agreement between King Charles II and William Penn extended Delaware's territory to a 12-mile radius from New Castle, including the low-tide mark of the Delaware River on New Jersey's shoreline. In its past rulings, the Supreme Court has denied New Jersey's claim that it should have exclusive jurisdiction over projects that begin on its own shores.
Testa's bill also could open the door for New Jersey to attempt to wrestle away control of two small pieces of land connected to Salem County and separated by the river from the the rest of Delaware's land mass. The contested land includes an area near Pennsville and an artificial island close to the Salem Nuclear Power Plant. The Supreme Court has consistently held that both pieces of land belong to Delaware.
Officials in Delaware have yet to comment on Testa's legislation.
The Delaware Bay went by various names before the British established North American colonies in the early 1600's. Dutch settlers originally called the bay Niew Port May, after Dutch explorer Cornelius May, and the indigenous Lenape called it Poutaxat – a phrase that means "near the falls." The Dutch later renamed it Godins Bay in honor of a merchant with the Dutch East India Co.
After the British arrived, they named the channel for Sir Thomas West, De La Warr, the nobleman who served as royal governor of the colony of Virginia. British forces later expelled the Dutch, laying claim to the bay and river with the Delaware name that has stuck for centuries.
