The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has assessed it as Vulnerable globally and as Endangered in Southeast Asia, where its population has declined substantially due to intensive artisanal and commercial fisheries as well as widespread habitat degradation.

Australian zoologist William John Macleay published the first scientific account of the mangrove whipray, a brief description of an immature female 86 cm (34 in) long caught off Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, in an 1883 volume of Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales.

[1][2] This bottom-dwelling species typically inhabits shallow water close to shore, though adults have also been recorded offshore to at least a depth of 85 m (279 ft).

[1] It is relatively inactive during the day, often resting half-buried in sand or atop coral heads, and actively forages for food at night.

[4][6] As in all stingrays, the mangrove whipray is aplacental viviparous, with the developing embryos being sustained by nutrient-rich histotroph ("uterine milk") produced by the mother.

[6] It is occasionally caught in tangle nets and bottom trawls, and to a lesser extent on longlines; it is marketed for its meat, skin, and cartilage.

[1][5] Because of its inshore habitat preferences, this naturally uncommon species is highly susceptible to intensive artisanal and commercial fishing occurring across much of its range.

In Southeast Asia, immature rays have been particularly affected by local fishing, as well as by habitat degradation from the widespread loss of mangrove forests.

Additionally, the numbers of this species in the Arafura Sea have dropped significantly due to an Indonesian gillnet fishery targeting wedgefishes (Rhynchobatus), which involves over 600 vessels and has been increasingly operating illegally in Australian waters.

These factors have led to an inferred decline of the Southeast Asian population by over 50%, leading the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to give it a regional assessment of Endangered.