The whitetip reef shark is widespread and quite abundant, and there is no legislation against fishing this species. The whitetip reef shark project of Hawaii is currently researching this shark’s life history, movement patterns, and habitat range, in hope that this will help in the future management of the populations of this shark. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) have been working for years on the International Plan of Action for the Conservation and Management of Sharks (IPOA-SHARKS). However, the vast size of the oceans where the whitetip reef shark is found, and the difficulty of law enforcement in many areas, make the task of managing the conservation of this shark extremely difficult. The whitetip reef shark is currently listed as Near Threatened by the IUCN. 