There has been no agreement in the IWC on whether or not it has the competence to classify or set catch limits for this species, even though it is included in the IWC definition of "bottlenose whale" (the only species so regulated is the northern bottlenose whale, Hyperoodon ampullatus). At the 2000 annual meeting of the IWC Scientific Committee, Japan explicitly expressed its unwillingness to subject its research and management program for this species to international scrutiny (IWC 2001).

Although the IWC does not control the annual quota of Baird's beaked whales, it is assumed that the present catch levels over a short period would not seriously affect the subpopulation, but research is needed to obtain information that will allow a full assessment of its status.

It is listed on CITES Appendix I.