Aleta Hohn
NOAA Beaufort Lab Oral Histories
Interviews with retired staff of NOAA Beaufort Lab, documenting their academic background, career path, research focus, and reflections on their work in the lab.
National Capital Contracting
On March 7, 2022, Joseph Smith interviewed Dr. Aleta Hohn for the NOAA Beaufort Lab Oral Histories project. Dr. Aleta Hohn was raised in Maryland. She received her Bachelor’s and Graduate degrees in the 1970s from the University of Maryland at College Park, the latter under Dr. Eugenie Clark. While at College Park she volunteered at the Smithsonian and worked for Dr. Jim Meade, where she gained her love for marine mammals. Hohn worked at NOAA’s Southwest Fisheries Science Center at La Jolla in 1980 where she was involved for ten years primarily with research on marine mammal-tuna fishery interactions. She moved to the Office of Protected Resources at NMFS headquarters in Silver Spring in 1990. In 1996, Hohn transferred to the Beaufort Laboratory, established the Lab’s Marine Mammal Program, and was the Lab’s Director of Fisheries for several years. She retired from the Beaufort Laboratory in 2021. The interview covers Dr. Hohn's early career, including her time at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, where she was involved in the implementation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act and navigated the political and financial challenges that impacted the tuna fishery in California. She discusses her transition to the Office of Protected Resources at NOAA headquarters, where she played a crucial role in the permitting process and the protection of marine mammals and sea turtles. Dr. Hohn reflects on her decision to move to the Southeast Fisheries Science Center in Beaufort, North Carolina, where she established a marine mammal research program. The interview delves into the significant challenges she faced, such as managing the interactions between small-scale fisheries and protected marine species and the development of management strategies like the Take Reduction Team to mitigate these conflicts. She also highlights the importance of collaboration with institutions like North Carolina State University for marine mammal pathology and research. Finally, she discusses retirement and outlines her plans to continue her research on marine mammals, particularly focusing on the analysis of samples collected over her career.
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