[2] The gulper shark is currently an endangered species mainly because of exploitation by humans and their abnormally long gestation period and low fecundity, preventing their population from recovering.

[6] It has been hypothesized that gulper sharks display a "depth distribution pattern associated with size" based on random human observation.

[6] Having a long life expectancy but a low net reproduction rate suggests that the population of gulper sharks would be at a very high risk if too many of them were killed from excessive fishing.

The gulper shark is most commonly found in the 300 to 800 meter depth range, inhabiting the upper continental slopes and outer continental shelves, the gulper is highly migratory species and has schooling habits based on multiple sharks being present around baited cameras.

The deep waters in which the gulper and similar shark species live is difficult to harvest, and longlines are an unspecific form of fishing.

Although bycatch is not always a significant cause of loss to population size, it highlights the unpredictable nature of deepwater fish exploitation.

The slow rate of gulper growth and development leads to a life strategy that is more centered on competition with one another than escaping predation, especially from humans.

This is demonstrated from even the earliest part of an individual gulper's life history where it consumes other fertilized eggs inside its parent's body.

The long gestation, low fecundity, and breaks in individual reproduction lead to slow repopulation ability.

[2] Slow reproduction is a part of the species biology, and cannot be changed in one generation based on sudden predation pressure.

While the fishing of gulper sharks and utilization of squalene from their livers is not inherently an activity that drives them toward extinction, overexploitation of the species can be a problem.

The squalene taken from the gulper liver is in high demand as a possible cancer therapy component among other uses, leading to unchecked harvesting of the species.

Their life strategy indicates that the frame of view for gulper fishing plans needs to be based on longer amounts of time, to allow for the consideration of the next generation of individuals.

It is highly susceptible to overexploitation leading to widespread population decline and its status and a species vulnerable to endangerment.

The gulper shark has been classified as vulnerable status by the IUCN since 2000 due to heavy overfishing and exacerbated through bycatch and low reproductive rates.

The current level of fishing may already be enough to render that population critically endangered in that region, especially considering the low reproductive rate of gulpers.

The fisheries concept is a closely regulated way to harvest gulpers, while monitoring the species population to ensure it does not crash.

This is especially true with the gulper shark, which has a two-year-long gestational period and a twelve to sixteen year maturity for females.

Biery and Daniel Pauly from UBC Fisheries Centre in Canada executed a review on species-specific fin to body-mass ratios in 2012.

A large problem with monitoring the populations of Australian and Indonesian dogfish is that discriminating between the seven local species by morphological attributes alone is unreliable.

Their study focuses on using the 16s mitochondrial gene region to differentiate these species and when sequenced, all but C. harrissoni and C. isodon were distinguishable.

[16] They concluded that 16s gene is a strong marker suitable for fishery catch verification and that using this technique is a reliable and efficient system for routine testing.