A Long Island man accused of illegally catching a great white shark off Cape Cod and dragging it onto a beach to celebrate with pictures was arraigned Wednesday on animal cruelty and other charges, prosecutors said.
Christopher Stefanou, 30, was ordered held on $10,000 bail after he was arraigned in Barnstable Superior Court, according to the Cape and Islands district attorney’s office.
Prosecutors allege Stefanou and his crew spent several days along the eastern shore of Cape Cod in October 2025 with “a European client” with the goal of capturing a great white shark. Prosecutors did not identify the client.
The expedition resulted in the capture of a shark known as “Aaron the Shark,” prosecutors said in a statement. The shark had been tagged and monitored by the state Division of Marine Fisheries in collaboration with the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy.
Authorities learned of the alleged expedition and capture after Stefanou posted video on social media, according to prosecutors.
The video showed the men using prohibited equipment, including a drone, to catch the shark and drag it onto the beach, where they posed for pictures before releasing it, prosecutors said.
A Barnstable County grand jury indicted Stefanou on charges of animal cruelty and several fishing violations, including illegal shore-based shark fishing in most waters surrounding Cape Cod, particularly the use of equipment designed to attract and capture large fish, including great white sharks.
The restrictions are intended in part to protect beachgoers by preventing fishing practices that deliberately attract sharks closer to shore, prosecutors said.
Stefanou was ordered to surrender his fishing license and stay out of Massachusetts except for legal matters. He was also ordered not to fish, boat, or use drones in Massachusetts waters and must remove all videos relating to the allegations from social media, according to prosecutors.
Stefanou is due back in Barnstable Superior Court on Dec. 11. His attorney could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Prosecutors said the investigation was led by the Massachusetts Environmental Police with assistance from State Police, police in Wellfleet, and shark expert Dr. Greg Skomal of the state Division of Marine Fisheries.
The white shark population has rebounded over the years after accidental captures and recreational fishing decimated the species in the late twentieth century. White sharks once dominated the waters around Cape Cod, but the population in New England dropped by 63 to 73 percent during the 1970s and 1980s, researchers told the Globe last year.
The rising number of sharks are correlated with the implementation of shark management plans and the growing population of grey seals, their prey, according to researchers. Congress banned the killing of seals under the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972.
Around 800 white sharks visited the waters off Cape Cod from 2015 to 2018, according to the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. Although scientists do not know how many sharks frequented the coast before that, they said the number generally indicates the species is recovering in the region.
Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.