Blacktip sharks have shown curiosity towards divers, but remains at a safe distance. Under most circumstances, this timid shark is not regarded as dangerous to humans at all.

As one of the most common large sharks in coastal waters, the Blacktip shark is caught in large numbers by commercial fisheries throughout the world, using longlines, fixed bottom nets, bottom trawls, and hook-and-line. The meat is considered to be high quality and sold as fresh, frozen, or dried and salted.

In addition, the fins are used for shark fin soup, the skin for leather, the liver oil for vitamins, and the carcasses for fishmeal. Blacktip sharks are the second most common shark caught by the Northwestern Atlantic Shark Fisheries, the first being the sandbar shark. The flesh of a blacktip is considered superior to that of the sandbar shark, resulting in the sandbar and other shark species being sold under the name "Blacktip Shark" in the United States. The blacktip shark is also very significant to Indian and Mexican fisheries, and is caught in varying numbers by fisheries in the Mediterranean, South China Sea, and off northern Australia.

The blacktip shark is popular with recreational anglers in South Africa, the Caribbean, and Florida. It is a listed game fish by the International Game Fish Association (IGFA). Once hooked, this species is a strong, steady fighter that sometimes jumps out of the water. Since 1995, the number of blacktip sharks taken by recreational anglers in the United States has approached or surpassed the number taken by commercial fishing. Due to its low reproductive rate it is vulnerable to over fishing, resulting in the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessing the blacktip shark as Near Threatened.

The United States and Australia manage fisheries catching blacktip sharks. In both countries, regulation occurs under umbrella management schemes for multiple shark species, such as that for the Large Coastal Sharks (LCS) category of the US National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Atlantic shark Fisheries Management Plan (FMP). No conservation plans specifically for this species have been implemented.

Threats to Blacktip Sharks in order of severity of impact are:

• Shark Finning
• Shark fin soup. Sharks are being harvested solely for their fins in order to make shark fin soup.
• Illegal fishing enterprises
• Injuries to due net entanglement

What we do to protect these sharks:

• We avoid towns with shark nets.
• We are educating people, so that they are more informed and hopefully lose their fear of these incredible animals, by way of documentaries, worldwide educational talks and conferences.
• We are making them more valuable alive than dead.
• We support all legitimate research done by MCM free of charge.

What you can do:

• Don’t buy shark products
• Don’t support towns with shark nets
• Report suspicious activities and document them with photos
• Dive with them, experience them and increase your knowledge so that you in turn can educate and teach others about sharks.