VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — A crowd of North End beachgoers hurried to the water’s edge at 47th Street on Thursday afternoon as an aquarium team released a rehabilitated loggerhead turtle.

Wearing blue shirts and gloves, two team members lifted the animal out of a plastic bin they had carried to the shoreline. They lowered it onto the wet sand and stepped back. The turtle began to army crawl toward the lapping waves and within a minute, disappeared in the calm surf.

The Virginia Aquarium’s Stranding Response Team is staying busy this summer with loggerhead and Kemp’s ridley turtles getting hooked on recreational fishing lines, according to aquarium spokesperson Kristina Hedgepeth.

“Our team has coined this time of year with the name ‘hooked sea turtle season’ as it is a reoccurring trend as the water and weather warms and there are more fishers and more sea turtles in our waters,” she wrote in an email.

A quick trip to the aquarium’s conservation center, and they’re back in action.

“Often in these cases, our team will admit these turtles, remove the hook, and the turtles will be cleared for immediate release the same day or shortly after,” Hedgepeth said.

The team responds to a high number of hooked sea turtles from April to August. This year, they’ve received 32 reports in Hampton Roads and have admitted 25 turtles to rehabilitation. Of those,16 have been released.

Some reports were received after the angler released the turtle, which the team does not recommend because of the potential for further injury. Other times, the angler was not able to recover the turtle because it broke the line or dislodged the gear and swam off, according to Erin Bates, stranding response rehabilitation manager.

This year’s numbers are in line with previous years’ averages, according to Hedgepeth.

Virginia Aquarium partners with four fishing piers to rescue hooked turtles, including the pier on 15th Street and in Sandbridge in Virginia Beach as well as Norfolk’s Oceanview and Hampton’s Buckroe piers.

Each pier has signage, recovery gear and staff who can assist when a hooked sea turtle is reported.

“It’s been successful at educating local anglers, minimizing harm to sea turtles, and allowing sea turtles to receive the quality medical care they need following a hook,” Hedgepeth said.

The team released several turtles last week at 47th Street to the joy of bathing-suit clad onlookers, many of whom jumped up from their beach chairs and ran over to watch. They snapped photos and recorded videos with their cellphones. The crowd cheered and clapped when a turtle finally reached the water’s edge.

The release location is based on the sea turtle’s size and if truck access is needed to carry it closer to the water, Bates said. Large loggerheads can weigh more than 100 pounds.

For smaller turtles, the team looks for easy access and parking. The North End is preferred where it’s quieter and less busy, she said.

Aquarium members vote to name hooked turtles based on a theme. This season is famous artists’ names including Monet, O’Keefe, Dali, Weiwei, Picasso, Degas, Rodin and Arbus, among others.

So what should you do if you hook a sea turtle on a fishing line from a pier?

The aquarium recommends first informing pier staff so they can help retrieve the turtle. Do not cut the line until the turtle is secure on land. If pier staff are not available, use a net to pull it up onto the pier or walk it to shore. Once the turtle is secured on land, cut the line two feet from the hook and cover the turtle with a towel to protect it from the sun.

Call Stranding Response at 757-385-7575.

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