A seasonal resident of Chilmark stepped up to help stranded sea turtles over the Christmas holiday, arranging for 50 of the endangered reptiles to be flown to warmer waters and rehabilitated.

Margaret Spector said the sea turtle rescue was her gift to her friends on Martha’s Vineyard.

“I just thought nobody needed any more holiday sweaters,” Ms. Spector said. “We’d give a present to the earth and the oceans. I decided to help rescue these turtles.”

Kemp's Ridley turtles, an endangered species, have been stranding on Cape beaches in record numbers. — Courtesy New England Aquarium

A few sea turtles wash up on Martha’s Vineyard each year, according to Kate Sampson, the entanglement coordinator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Most of the turtles, however, are stranded on the Cape, on the beaches surrounding Cape Cod Bay. The natural barrier seems to interrupt their migration to southern waters.

The turtles rescued were Kemp’s Ridley turtles, found by a network of volunteers organized through the Massachusetts Audubon Society Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary.

The stranded sea turtles, many of them near death from the “cold stunning,” are transported to the New England Aquarium’s sea turtle hospital in Quincy, where a team tries to stabilize and treat them. The turtles become weak or sick when they get trapped in northern waters as the sea temperature drops.

“Everything sort of slows down,” Ms. Sampson said. “Their heartbeat slows down, they don’t feed as much. Unfortunately it suppresses their immune system, and frequently they have pneumonia.”

Ms. Sampson helps arrange flights for stranded turtles and other animals.

A winter storm that hit the Boston area interrupted plans, but on Dec. 30, the weather cleared and a private aircraft took off from Hanscom Field in Bedford, bound for Panama City, Fla.

The turtles were then taken to Gulf World Marine Park, where they will get medical care until they are healthy enough to be released into the Gulf of Mexico.

Ms. Sampson said no one is quite sure of the reason, but there is a sudden surge of turtle strandings in New England.

In previous years, the New England Aquarium would handle 70 to 90 stranded turtles. Last year set a record with more than 1,000 turtles stranded. This year is already the second largest cold stunning event, with more than 500 turtles already found, according to Ms. Sampson. She said the support of many people, including donors and volunteer turtle rescuers gives the turtles a better chance of recovering.

“If this whole collaborative network wasn’t here, they would all die,” Ms. Sampson said. “It’s very important work.”