Alumni Profile: Nicholas LaValle ‘14 Lawrence Taylor ‘78

Nicholas LaValle ‘14 and Lawrence Taylor ‘78 are collaborating on a project that aims to make oysters, their farmers, and those who eat them happy as clams.

Nicholas is an environmental entrepreneur and the founder of Clean Valley CIC, a Dartmouth, N.S. biofiltration company increasing land-based aquaculture’s triple bottom line (social, environmental, and financial) through innovative products. The company created an algae biofilter that uses wastewater from aquaculture to grow microalgae that is used to feed young oysters at hatcheries.

He connected with Lawrence, a marine biologist and professional photographer, after reading about him in The Pillars and realizing they both lived and worked in the Halifax area. Lawrence has spent decades working in marine research, underwater photography, and industrial pre/post-production, and in 2016 began working on automated machine vision technology to link biological data gathering and seafood processing. His company IntegraSee uses artificial intelligence (AI) enabled cameras and biosensors that record mussel behaviour to monitor water quality, temperature, and salinity. “They’re a very good early warning system,” he says, adding that this approach is already being used in Poland to monitor drinking water quality for eight million people.

The two companies were a natural fit, says Nicholas, because Clean Valley needed a way to monitor oysters’ well-being at their hatcheries: “When [Canada’s] Ocean Supercluster called for expressions of interest to develop artificial intelligence for the ocean sector, I immediately thought, ‘I know someone who’s doing that. Let me give him a call and see what we can do together.’”

They’ve joined forces to bring AI into the oyster industry, using IntegraSee’s cameras to observe and learn from oysters by collecting biological data: “How are they feeling? Are they healthy? Are they hungry? And providing that data as a nice, easy-to-understand package to the oyster farmer or the operator of an oyster hatchery, so that they can make the best decisions,” Nicholas explains.

The AI tools eliminate the need for humans to review and analyze thousands of hours of footage, so the collected data can be used right away. “This is where AI should be stepping in and pulling its weight ... this is where it shines. Just looking for those little occurrences that are so hard for us to see—that’s the power of it,” Lawrence says.

Both men say their combined technology has the potential to improve animal welfare, grow bigger oysters, save farmers money, and protect consumer health by ensuring a clean, virus-free growing environment. “Even though many of the growers go through many steps to carefully make sure they don’t have norovirus, they still get caught every once in a while,” Lawrence points out. With the advanced water-quality monitoring afforded by AI technology, the risks are lowered and consumer confidence is bolstered.

Nicholas says the ocean still has a lot to teach humans: “There’s just so much information there in terms of what we can learn from it and understand as proper stewards. It’s our responsibility not to extract as much as we can, but look to regenerative processes that we can create … rather than just take what we can and leave nothing.”

Both Nicholas and Lawrence credit their experiences at PC with helping them build their careers. “One of the values I learned from PC was collaboration on a global scale … at Clean Valley, that’s a similar pillar for our organization because it really helps keep things in perspective when you’re not looking at yourself as an island, but rather as a part of a larger ocean, so to speak,” says Nicholas.

For his part, Lawrence says PC gave him the impetus to keep learning and trying new things: “They let you step up and challenge yourself there. If you’re not pushing yourself, really, you’re not going anywhere.”