Sean Tibbetts – Fascinated by Fish

It’s no surprise that Sean Tibbetts has been employed by the National Research Council – Institute for Marine Biosciences in Halifax, Nova Scotia for eight years. “I have always been fascinated by fish,” he says. In grade 12, Sean came across a newspaper article about aquaculture that piqued his interest. He had never heard that word before but it appealed to him. A few weeks later, several local universities visited his high school to recruit new students and Sean expressed his interest in aquaculture to many of them. However, only NSAC truly embraced his interest, long before they even had an aquaculture program of their own.

Sean, a native of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in Animal Science from NSAC in 1994. He then went on to receive his Masters degree in Animal Nutrition from NSAC in 1999. After graduating with his Masters degree, Sean was hired by the National Research Council as a research assistant for a six month project with European oysters and then a 12 month project with haddock nutrition. He has been working there ever since.

At the National Research Council, Sean conducts fish nutrition research that benefits the aquaculture industry. With this research, he works to develop new diet formulations for fish, improve upon existing diets for fish, make fish feeds more cost-effective and environmentally friendly and also uses nutrition to boost the immune response in fish to fight stress and disease. In addition to doing research, Sean runs three wet labs, one feed technology lab and one analytical lab. These labs are used to conduct live fish studies, produce research diets and analyze feed ingredients, research diets, biological tissues and blood samples.

Sean states that much of what has been learned about terrestrial animal agriculture is now being directly applied to farming of aquatics species of plants and animals. “The fundamentals of animal production, health and reproduction that I learned as an Animal Sciences undergraduate at NSAC have proven invaluable in my career now with aquatic animals,” he says. During his masters degree at NSAC, Sean was taught the basics of monogastric nutrition. Since fish are also monogastrics, the knowledge was readily transferable to the work that he does now.

Education wasn’t the only good thing to come out of Sean’s experience at NSAC. His wife, Shannon Scott-Tibbetts, was enrolled in the Bachelor of Science in Aquaculture program at NSAC at the same time that Sean was working on his masters degree. They knew each other because Sean taught one of her labs and also worked with her one summer in the animal science department.

Caption: Sean holding his pride & joy, Evyn, standing in front of a Leco FP-528 Nitrogen Analyzer at the National Research Council's Marine Research Station where he works."

They lost touch with each other for about three years after Sean completed his masters degree. One day, Sean was involved in a minor car accident. When he got a call from an insurance adjuster, he realized that it was Shannon’s mother. A few days later, Sean got an e-mail from Shannon and they have been together ever since. Shannon is a Research Assistant with the Fishermen and Scientists Research Society located at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography. They were married on May 17, 2003 and welcomed their first child, Evyn Daniel Tibbetts, on November 30, 2006.

Sean chose NSAC because it offers some of the best equipped labs. Also, its small class sizes mean that every student gets applied and practical experience. “NSAC provides the expertise, lab facilities and hands-on training for students to really excel,” he says. Sean’s favorite part of his experience at NSAC was having the opportunity to work as a researcher during his fourth year project for his undergraduate thesis. “That experience made me realize that I was good at that type of work and that I really enjoyed it,” he says. Sean won an award for his project on Atlantic salmon nutrition and considers it one of his biggest accomplishments during his undergraduate days at NSAC.

While attending NSAC, Sean was very active in student life. He worked as a bartender at the NSAC pub, worked on campus police and was Vice President of Fraser House. He was also the founder of the NSAC Aquaculture Club, a participant in numerous College Royal events and a member of the Beanie Patrol during Frosh weeks. NSAC gave Sean the chance to meet many wonderful friends. Many of those friendships have been lost by distance (many now found again, thanks to Facebook.com) but Sean still holds a very special place for them in his heart. “Many of my friends during my ‘NSAC days’ have helped shape the person that I am today,” he says.

Throughout his career, Sean has published eight scientific journal papers and 28 short-papers, conference abstracts, technical reports and magazine articles in the field of applied fish nutrition. He is currently on the “Ask the Experts” column at Aquafeed.com.