In response to a decline in the cod fishery industry, the Newfoundland government refurbished the Marystown shipyard in 1992. Ownership left Canada when the American company Friede Goldman Ltd. bought the facility in 1998, and remained in American hands when ownership changed again in 2002 to Kiewit Offshore Services Ltd. By 2019, the shipyard had been idle for four years and was acquired by Marbase Marystown Inc. (usually just Marbase), under a 20-year lease with the intention of establishing a service hub supporting regional aquaculture, the first of its kind in Canada. Marbase is a partnership between one Newfoundland businessman, Paul Antle, and the Norwegian company Amar Group AS.