The Roughskin Spurdog is not known to be targeted in any fisheries, but may be incidentally caught in demersal trawl or longline fisheries. The species is reported from some regions with limited fishing effort. For example, in the United States Gulf of Mexico, Royal Red Shrimp (Pleoticus robustus) trawl fisheries operate on relatively restricted fishing grounds adjacent to home ports at depths of 250–550 m (Stiles et al. 2007, Reed and Farrington 2010). The bottom fish fishery operating in the Hawaiian Archipelago targets deep-water snappers and groupers (Etelis and Pristipomoides spp) at depths <400 m depth (DLNR 2019). Off southern Africa, the Roughskin Spurdog has been reported in very low numbers (annual average catch < 1 t) from prawn trawl fisheries between 2010–2012 (da Silva et al. 2015).
The species has also been reported from parts of Central and South America that have undergone intensive fishing activity. Industrial trawling for shrimp and demersal species was introduced in the 1940s and increased rapidly from the 1960s until the 1980s when there were 450 registered vessels (Mendoza 2015). Artisanal fisheries dominate the catch in Venezuela, employing a number of gear types. Deep-water fisheries began in 2000 and have expanded geographically, and some stocks have collapsed (O. Lasso pers. comm. 30/05/2018). Off Brazil, deep-water fisheries along the southeast and southern coasts developed in the late 1990s to remove some pressure from depleted coastal resources (Dallagnolo et al. 2009). Four main fisheries (hook and line, demersal gillnet, pots, and demersal trawls) targeted a variety of species including monkfish (Lophyus gastrophysus), the Argentine Hake (Merluccius hubbsi), and deep-water shrimps (family Aristeidae) at depths of 200–1,000 m+. The species has been landed as frequent catch from bottom longline fisheries, and occasional catch from demersal gillnet and trap fisheries from southern Brazil (Mazzoleni and Schwingel 1999). Fishing activities mostly ceased in 2006, but may return at any point in the future due to the dynamic nature of Brazilian fisheries.