Miami ( CNN ) Rumors of another major change in U.S.-Cuba policy are sparking a surge in Cuban migrants in recent days , according to the U.S. Coast Guard . Agency officials tell CNN that Cubans are being told the decades-old `` wet foot , dry foot '' policy is going away on January 15 , and that has many of them attempting to reach the United States . The policy , which was enacted in 1995 , grants asylum to any Cuban who reaches U.S. soil , or `` dry foots . '' But most Cubans found at sea would be sent back to Cuba . Any change to that policy , which is part of the Cuban Adjustment Act , would need approval by Congress , which is highly unlikely to happen . `` We recognize that when these rumors continue to perpetuate , they grow . People believe it . They may get desperate . They may try and take to the sea , '' said Capt . Mark Fedor , the chief of response for the Coast Guard 's 7th District , which patrols most of the waters around the island nation . Since the Obama administration announced a renewal of diplomatic relations with the Castro government on December 16 , the Coast Guard says there has been a 235 % increase in the number of Cubans found at sea , compared with the first two weeks of December . Overall , the final month of 2014 saw a 117 % jump year to year in the number of migrants from the Communist island . `` Having this many people at sea , in very unseaworthy vessels -- it just makes for a very dangerous environment , '' said Fedor . The source of the rumors is unknown . But , Coast Guard officials believe human smugglers and builders of makeshift boats may be partly to blame . `` These boats are n't just laying around . These people are getting paid to build these boats . That 's the profit motive behind all this , '' said Fedor . `` There are people making money off of this . And they do n't care about the safety of these folks . I think it 's in their benefit to perpetuate these rumors . And we 're trying to combat that . '' Ever since Fidel Castro took power in Cuba in 1959 , there have been incidents of mass migration from Cuba -- the most famous of which was the Mariel boatlift of 1980 , when roughly 125,000 Cubans landed on Florida 's shores within a six-month span . Although the recent surge is not considered a mass migration , Fedor says , `` We 're always attentive to that . There 's a variety of factors that could lead to a mass migration . But right now , we 're not at that level . '' But , just in case , Fedor says the Coast Guard has put additional resources in the Florida Straits to deal with the current situation .
Rumors in Cuba suggest it may soon be harder to get asylum in U.S. U.S. Coast Guard reports huge increase in number of Cubans found at sea . The Associated Press contributed to this report.