Spectacled porpoises are taken in fisheries including gillnet fisheries in Tierra del Fuego and southeastern Chile. They are also taken in some bottom and mid-water trawls in Argentina. The extent to which is not well known.
Australophocaena dioptrical is found only in the temperate and sub-Antarctic waters of the Southern Hemisphere. Reliable sightings have only been made at these locations: Heard Island, Kerguelan Island, Macquarie Island, South Georgia, the Falkland Islands and Tierra del Fuego. Spectacled porpoises appear to prefer cold open oceanic waters, (5.5 to 9.5 degrees C).
The IUCN considers Australophoceana diotropical as "Data Deficient".