Skipjack tuna commercial tunas, and its population is considered sustainable against its current consumption. Its fishing is still controversial due to the methodology, with rod and reel or fishery options being promoted as ecologically preferable. Purse seine methods are considered unsustainable by some authorities due to excess bycatch, although bycatch is said to be much reduced if fish aggregation devices are not used. These considerations have led to the availability of canned skipjack marked with the fishing method used to catch it. Skipjack is considered to have "moderate" mercury contamination. As a result, pregnant women are advised against eating large quantities. In
Skipjack shad was impounded, and currently skipjack shad are most abundant in the upper Mississippi River below the mouth of the Ohio River. In recent years, human modifications to the middle Missouri River have made conditions more favorable for skipjack shad and their distribution has expanded upstream to the Nebraska-South Dakota border. Skipjack shad were historically found in the northern upper Mississippi River and the St. Croix River; however, there have only been four records of skipjack shad in Wisconsin waters since the 1950s. Because this fish is a migratory species, dams have diminished its distribution. It cannot continue to migrate northward