Shark encounters in the Molokai Channel have been noted since International Marathon Swimming Hall of Famer Greta Andersen attempted a Molokai Channel crossing in 1958. Towards the end of her attempt, she was reluctantly forced out due to tiger sharks. More recently, a 2016 tiger shark encounter with Ranie Pearce was captured on video (see here).

During a five-month period in 2019, three channel swimmers sustained cookiecutter shark-related injuries while attempting to cross the channel between Oahu and Molokai. 

In November 2021, a paper titled Cookiecutter Shark-Related Injuries: A New Threat to Swimming Across the Ka‘iwi Channel wwas written by Dr. Victoria A. Scala, Karen Ng, Dr. Jason Kaneshige, Dr. Sho Furuta, and Dr. Michael S. Hayashi and published in the Hawai’i Journal of Health & Social Welfare – read here.

Note: be prepared to view open shark bites in the thigh, abdomen, and shoulder.

A subsequent paper written by channel swimmer Dr. Steven Minaglia and open water swimming biostatician Melodee Liegl looked into this issue (“Moonless night sky increases Isistius species and live human contact”) that was recently published on PLOS ONE – see here.

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