Dave Sherwood

COJIMAR, Cuba, (Reuters) – Few Cubans are able to enjoy the luxury of a motorboat as they chase the many fish found just offshore from their island homes.

This seems to be changing.

Cuban communist rule has given authority for the first time since decades to allow importation of outboard motors less than 10 HP to be used on small boats. It also stated that it would cut down red tape and speed up the process.

One fisherman already mulling an upgrade is Maydel Reinaldo Hechevarría, a 41-year old street vendor from the port of Jaimanitas, west of Havana. Although he said that he fished since his youth, he didn’t have a motor so his options were limited.

“When we row there are many days we cannot go out,” said Hechevarría, who told Reuters he began the process to import a motor just days after the announcement last week. I see many more options now.”

Limits on boat building and imports have long restricted private commercial and recreational fishermen like Hechevarría to vessels that predate Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution, much the same as the island’s candy-colored vintage American cars.

But those limits, presumably aimed at reducing attempts at the dangerous crossing north to the United States by sea, also hamper fishermen´s ability to catch fish to feed the island´s 11 million inhabitants.

Even before Castro´s revolution, most Cubans, like Hemingway´s Santiago, in “The Old Man and the Sea”, were too poor to afford a motor. There has been little change since then.

“This is a solution for some but it doesn´t resolve the necessities of all fishermen,” said Fernando de la Rosa, 58, who oversees the Jaimanitas fishing marina, a ragtag collection of boats tucked into a palm and mangrove lined creek.

Many large-scale fishermen in Havana said that the measures were a positive step, but they still fall short of the goals to modernize and increase catches.

Abilio alcantara is 53-year-old Cojimar fisherman. The boat, which measures 27 feet and was built in Japan, requires much more power that the 10hp motor allowed by the government.

He said, “The measure was a good one.” We need motors with at least 80 to 90 horsepower.”

Alcantara stated that concerns about outboard motors being used by fishermen for migration north to the United States are exaggerated.

Alcantara stated, “I’ve been on my boat 30 years.” “If my boat is still on the water, it’s too late.”

Since October, the U.S. Coast Guard has picked up more than 1,000 Cubans on the way to South Florida in rafts, homemade boats and even on surfboards — the largest number since fiscal year 2017, agency records show.

Many Cubans have sought to migrate from poor Caribbean islands due to a severe economic crisis.