Massive sea turtle ice sculpture takes shape on Boston waterfront ahead of New Year’s

A glittering stack of tons of ice slowly transformed into sea turtles towering 8-feet-tall over Central Wharf Plaza Sunday morning – honoring one of New England’s critically endangered species for the New Year’s holiday.

The ice sculpture display, organized by the New England Aquarium, will be a part of the Boston Harbor Now’s annual New Year’s Eve Waterfront Ice Sculpture Stroll this Wednesday.

This year’s sculpture features critically endangered Kemp’s ridley sea turtles and is carved out of 35 blocks of ice weighing 10,500 pounds. The display was carved from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. in a session open the public in Central Wharf Plaza outside the New England Aquarium.

The ice sculpture was done by local artist Don Chapelle, of Brilliant Ice Sculpture in North Andover, who has been creating massive displays of North Atlantic right whales, sharks, penguins, sea lions, octopuses, and other sea life out of blocks of ice for the aquarium for 18 years.

“It’s a joy every year to create iconic species that the New England Aquarium has devoted its energy and time toward saving and protecting,” Chapelle said. “Year after year, visitors delight in seeing us sculpt them in ice.”

The sea turtle display will stand in the plaza at 14 feet wide and eight feet tall.

“This year, he is paying tribute to the endangered sea turtles that receive extensive, intensive, and lengthy care by Aquarium staff,” the aquarium staff said Sunday.

Over the last month, about 500 turtles – mostly Kemp’s Ridley sea turtles – have been rescued from Cape Cod beaches and given critical rehabilitative care at the Aquarium’s Sea Turtle Hospital in Quincy.

The Kemp’s ridley sea turtles are among species of turtles that become trapped in rapidly chilling waters in Cape Cod Bay and wash ashore cold-stunned every fall and early winter.

“Because of rapidly changing water temperatures and wind patterns, many turtles cannot escape the hook-like area of Cape Cod Bay and become hypothermic,” aquarium staff said.

Kemp’s ridley sea turtles population, which are critically endangered and threatened by “fisheries interactions, climate change, ocean pollution, and degradation of their habitats,” are hit hard by the phenomenon.

Hundreds of turtles each year are rescued by the Mass Audubon’s Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and taken for care at the aquarium hospital.

The sculpture, along with over 30 locations participating in the Waterfront Ice Sculpture Stroll this New Year’s Eve, will be available for viewing from 1 to 5 p.m.