Burmeister's porpoises are threatened as bycatch in a variety of fisheries throughout their range; the extent of which is not well documented. The largest takes appear to occur in Peru and have been estimated to exceed 450 per year. They are also shot or harpooned or taken in nets for human consumption or for use as bait for crab fisheries, blurring the barrier between bycatch deaths and directed fishery mortality.
No quantitative abundance estimates exist for Burmeister's porpoises.
The IUCN considers Phocoena spinipinnis as a "Data Deficient" species.