The whitetip reef shark is fished in the waters off Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Madagascar. It is also believed to be fished in other waters across its range, but there is not a lot of information about this. The meat and liver are sold for human consumption, despite the fact that the liver has been reported as toxic. Although this shark is widely distributed, its restricted habitat, depth range, small litter size, and the long time to reach maturity means that the whitetip reef shark may become increasingly threatened to overfishing. 