A New York man is facing animal cruelty and other charges for allegedly illegally capturing a great white shark off Cape Cod last year.
Christopher Stefanou, 30, of Long Island, was arraigned Wednesday in Barnstable Superior Court on charges including cruelty to animals, fishing for shark, mechanical deployment of bait, attempting to capture a shark and possession of a protected species shark, according to the Cape & Islands District Attorney’s Office. Bail was set at $10,000 and Stefanou was required to surrender his fishing license, remove existing video from social media, stay out of Massachusetts and several other penalties. He is due back in court on Dec. 11.
Prosecutors allege that in October 2025, Stefanou and his New York-based crew embarked on a days-long excursion on the eastern shore of Cape Cod with a European client with the goal of capturing a great white shark.
They wound up capturing a shark known as “Aaron the Shark,” a great white that had previously been tagged and closely monitored by the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, working with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Authorities said they learned of the illegal activity when Stefanou posted video footage of the capture on social media showing his crew using prohibited equipment, including a drone, to capture and drag the shark onto the beach, where they proceeded to celebrate and take pictures of themselves with the shark before releasing it.
Massachusetts regulations prohibit shore-based shark fishing with equipment specifically designed to lure and capture large species of fish, including the prohibited species of white shark, in most of the waters surrounding Cape Cod, the district attorney’s office said. The regulations are designed in part to protect the public from practices that intentionally lure these species closer to shore.
