NEWARK

— A Cape May tuna fisherman was charged today with shooting at pilot whales while aboard a fishing boat in 2011, federal prosecutors say.

Daniel Archibald, 27, surrendered to U.S. Marshals today and was charged with violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

He was released on a $10,000 bond after an appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge James Clark.

On Sept. 24, 2011, an 11-foot pilot whale weighing 740 pounds was discovered on a beach in Allenhurst, N.J. It died a short time later.

A necropsy turned up a .30-caliber bullet that had lodged in the whale's jaw and triggered an infection that caused the mammal to starve to death, prosecutors say.

Federal investigators later determined that a fishing vessel called the "Capt. Bob" was fishing off New Jersey waters in August 2011, around the time the whale was shot, prosecutors say. Archibald was a crew member on the vessel, investigators say.

Nearly a month before the whale washed ashore, Archibald posted to Facebook a photo of a tuna head on a hook with the caption "thanks a lot pilot whales," prosecutors say. A federal investigator discovered the photo in May 2014, according to criminal complaint filed today.

A September 2014 search of the "Capt. Bob" turned up a World War II-era rifle known as a Mosin-Nagant that has not been manufactured for several decades.

The bullet found in the whale was similar to test bullets fired from Archibald's rifle, prosecutors say.

Archibald admitted shooting at pilot whales during a September 2014 interview aboard the "Capt. Bob," federal investigators say.

"He admitted that he shot at pilot whales with the Mosin-Nagant around the time the pilot whale had been shot -- in or about August 2011," according to a criminal complaint filed by Special Agent Matthew Gilmore of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Defendant Archibald claimed that he had 'sprayed' bullets at pilot whales in a an effort to chase them away and that at times the whales might have been close to the Capt. Bob."

Archibald is facing a penalty of one year in prison and a fine of $100,000.

Thomas Zambito may be reached at tzambito@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TomZambito. Find NJ.com on Facebook.