It is caught for food, likely throughout its range, but specific fishery data is lacking.

The only source of global fishery data is the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which must rely on numbers provided by member governments.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has therefore listed the finetooth shark under Least Concern, though there is no fishery data available for this species off South America.

The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) presently lacks enough population and fishery data to assess its conservation status beyond Data Deficient.

The rapid collapse of the Californian subpopulation (over 50% within three generations) prompted concerns regarding the species' susceptibility to overfishing in other areas, where fishery data is seldom reported and aspects of life history and population structure are little-known.

For example, in fisheries heavily dependent on the yearly incoming age group (the new recruits), fishery data alone cannot be used to forecast catches because very small fish are generally not taken with standard fishing gear.

However, no specific fishery data are available.

By contrast, blacknose shark stocks off northern Brazil appear to be stable, while no fishery data are available from the Caribbean.

The white abalone population in Mexico is thought to be depleted based on commercial fishery data, but the status of the species in Mexico remains largely unknown.

In 2006, the IUCN assessed this species, including Pacific populations now separated as C. cerdale, as Data Deficient due to a lack of fishery data.