Finetooth Shark - Human Interactions

Human Interactions

The finetooth shark has never been implicated in an attack on humans. However, when caught this shark will thrash and snap at anything within range, and people have been bitten attempting to handle it. Finetooth sharks are utilized for human consumption fresh or dried and salted. Other than off the southeastern United States, this species is of little commercial importance: it is small and occurs in water too shallow for most commercial and recreational fisheries, and is generally too fast-swimming to be caught by shrimp trawlers. Small numbers are taken incidentally by floating longlines and on hook-and-line. This species is susceptible to overfishing due to its low reproductive rate, and to habitat degradation due to its inshore habits.

Substantial numbers of finetooth sharks are caught in drift gillnets operated by the shark fishery off southeastern United States, which peaked in 1999 at about 117 tons landed. Stock assessments conducted in 2002 suggested that U.S. populations had not yet been overfished but that the catch rate was unsustainable, whereas assessments conducted in 2007 concluded that catch rates did not exceed sustainable levels and that populations were stable. Fishing for this species in U.S. waters is regulated by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) 1993 Fisheries Management Plan (FMP) for Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sharks; it is classified as a "Small Coastal Shark" (SCS) for the purposes of commercial quotas and recreational bag limits. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed the finetooth shark as of Least Concern overall and off the U.S. and Mexico. There is concern for this species in South America, where its numbers seem naturally low and it is potentially under heavy pressure by widespread, intensive coastal fisheries. However, at present the IUCN does not have sufficient data to assess its status in the region beyond Data Deficient.