The Silvertip Shark is caught globally as target but mostly incidental catch in industrial, artisanal, and subsistence fisheries with pelagic longlines and purse seines, gillnet and demersal trawl, and a range of artisanal gear. It is generally retained for the meat and large fins (Ebert et al. 2021). Its migratory behaviour from the seafloor to shallow waters at night increases its susceptibility to capture in the pelagic tuna fisheries. Commercial at-vessel-mortality in pelagic longline fisheries is highly variable ranging from 15–47% (Ellis et al. 2017, White et al. 2019).
Coral reef-associated species such as the Silvertip Shark are important to fisheries in the Arabian Seas and adjacent waters and Western Indian Ocean region of East Africa and Madagascar. In these regions, elasmobranchs are most commonly taken as bycatch in non-target fisheries and in artisanal fisheries. For example, the Silvertip Shark is one of the most frequently caught sharks in traditional and artisanal fisheries of Madagascar and carcharhinids dominated the small-scale fisheries marine megafauna catches (elasmobranchs, marine mammals, and sea turtles) across Kenya, Zanzibar, and northern Madagascar from 2016–2017 (Cripps et al. 2015, Temple et al. 2019). Across the Western Indian Ocean (WIO), more than 60 million people reside within 100 km of the coast and there is great dependence on marine resources for food and employment (Obura et al. 2017). Marine fisheries catch in the WIO reported to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) increased from the 1960s to the 1990s but have levelled off since 1999 suggesting stocks are fully fished. Artisanal catches are underreported and most small-scale, artisanal, and subsistence coastal fisheries within the Western Indian Ocean are considered to be fully- or overexploited, especially where they are found close to population centres.
The Silvertip Shark is landed in local markets in Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea (SEAFDEC 2006, 2020; White 2007). In Papua New Guinea, the species was taken in the longline shark fishery that operated until 2014 and accounted for 0.5% by number of the shark catch young juveniles to large adults caught and retained, and is still caught by coastal fishers (White et al. 2017, White et al. 2019). It is not commonly landed in Taiwan (Ebert et al. 2013).
In the Great Barrier Reef (GBR), Queensland, Australia, the Silvertip Shark is taken incidentally in very low numbers by managed commercial and recreational line fisheries that target Coral Trout (Plectropomus leopardus; Heupel et al. 2009). The Silvertip Shark was previously taken by illegal fishers operating in northern Australian waters. The species accounted for 3.7% of fins by number of fins seized from Taiwanese vessels caught illegally fishing in Australia from 2006–2009 (Marshall 2011). However, the level of illegal catch since about 2009 has been relatively low and is typically conducted by small-scale fishers from neighboring countries. Most of these fishers operate close to Australia's maritime border and recently, these fishers have rarely come near to the Australian mainland, and Australia has a National Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing (Department of Agriculture 2023).
