 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 1993 Fisheries Management Plan for Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico sharks; it is classified as a "small coastal shark" for the purposes of commercial quotas and recreational bag limits.