Boat making and repair, considered one of the oldest professions, has taken a hit in Kendrapara and Jagatsinghpur districts owing to Covid-19. The work has declined by almost 50 per cent in the last five months due to dip in demand and unavailability of workers. Around 500 people from the two districts depend on boat making and their livelihood has been hit due to the pandemic. Fishermen mostly purchase boats during the peak season from May to August. However, they are not in a position to buy boats or get them repaired due to their own financial crisis. The slump in fishing activities has serious affected boat makers. Sidharth Manna, who has a boat making unit at Jamboo village, said nowadays carpenters and painters are reluctant to come to work due to the Covid-19 scare and social distancing norms. President of Odisha Traditional Fish Workers Union Prasanna Behera said it takes at least two weeks to build a new country boat which costs anywhere between Rs 50,000 and Rs 2 lakh. Similarly, trawlers are sold for Rs 12-Rs 15 lakh and repair of fishing vessels can take up to one week and costs anywhere between Rs 10,000 and Rs 30,000. While fishermen faced huge losses due to restrictions on transporting their catch to West Bengal and other states, seafood exporters are still facing the heat of the pandemic. Usually by this time, the exporters start purchasing seafood from fishermen in the two districts. However, due to restrictions, they are unable to export seafood to China, Singapore, Japan and other countries.