(intense music)
- [Coyote] Alright guys we got a good turtle
out in front of us, camera's rollin',
this could be it. - [Man] Dead through,
dead through. - [Coyote] I'm
comin', I'm comin'. (splashing)
- Oh, oh. (dramatic music) (splashing) - [Coyote] Australia's home
to many reptilian species. And while several of them
are found within the confines of the continent's interior, beyond the tide you will find one of the world's
most cherished animals, the green sea turtle. In the past I've had the
chance to swim alongside these elegant and
timeless beings, yet strict regulations
prohibit anyone from making physical
contact with these reptiles. However on this adventure,
that is all about to change. (dramatic music) Today the crew and I are
heading off the coast of Bowen, a small town situated at
the top of the Whitsundays on the Eastern
side of Queensland. Under the invitation of
the World Wildlife Fund, we will be given the
chance to work alongside the traditional owner rangers
from Guru and Bindile People. These rangers take
responsibility
for the management and protection of
their sea country, including iconic species
like the green sea turtle. Their work includes
(splashing) safely catching,
collecting data, and tagging these
magnificent marine reptiles so scientists can then determine what is happening to
the turtle population and ensure that the
species is continuing to thrive in these warm waters. - And as a very
order Gudjuda Elder, I'd like to welcome
you to the country and hope yous have a good day. (chattering) - [Mark] Coyote,
what's goin' on? - I'm doin' a smoke
ceremony right now and the flames are
just welcoming us into this community.
- That's what the flames will. - [Coyote] I consider
myself to be an expert when it comes to
catching turtles. And my method of
leaping from kayaks to catch snapping
turtles has often proven to be incredibly successful. (dramatic music) Catching sea turtles however,
is a very different challenge. (splashing) As compared to snapping turtles, these ocean dwelling
reptiles are incredibly fast. And instead of leaping feet
first from a slow rowing kayak, I will be jumping
from a speeding boat. The good news is that I
will be apprenticing a man who I now consider to be
the greatest turtle catcher of all time, Aaron Taiters. He will be showing me
the tricks of the trade that he has spent
several years mastering and which have resulted
in the safe capture, data collection, tagging, and release for
hundreds of sea turtles. (dramatic music) So what are you
lookin' for Aaron? You lookin' for
shadows in the water? - Yeah, we're lookin' for
sort of a dark brown figure. - [Coyote] Okay. - We'll see the turtle
shells sit still or they'll make a move for it. The moment they
move, we tell Eddie, "Yep, he's off to the right." And that's how we'll
catch him then. - [Coyote] Gotcha. Yeah that's kind of the same way I search for snapping turtles. I look for a dark shadow
beneath the surface, wait for it to start movin', I know it's not a rock,
and then you make your go. - [Aaron] Yep. Sometimes you will get confused because there's a lot of
sting ray around here. Before you see it as a turtle, just make sure you
see his flippers first - Got it.
- And then you just start chasing. (dramatic music) - [Man Over Radio]
Gudjuda One, Gudjuda One, this is little Got Gunger,
any turtles sighted yet? - [Man] Not yet but
we're working on it. We'll keep you posted. - [Man Over Radio] Rodger
that, over and out. (beeping) (dramatic music) - [Aaron] There he is
there to the right. - [Coyote] Oh got a
turtle to our right here. He's just in front of us.
- I think he's goin' left. - He's swimmin' really quick. Goin' left. Upon spotting several
smaller turtles and witnessing their
impressive speed, I quickly realized that
catching a sea turtle was going to be
much more difficult than I had originally
anticipated. There's a big turtle
here, big one, big one. - [Man] Go, go. (splashing) (groaning)
(splashing) - Yes.
(cheering) (laughing)
Nice catch. Oh, that was a rough miss. But the good news is that
Aaron was right there to follow up with an epic
dive and successful catch. Boy does he make it look easy. (yelling) And I had his front
flipper in my hand. - [Aaron] Yeah I
thought I saw that. - [Coyote] I had his flipper. - [Aaron] I said that, I said,
"He's got it in your hand." (yelling)
And he's just off cruising. - Well great catch again Aaron. (laughing) That was epic, alright. I was so close,
that was the one. I had the entire
flipper in my hand and it went whoop, right out. And I tried to grab
the back of the shell, couldn't do it, but at
least we caught the turtle, let's get it onto
the research boat, get the biometrics, keep at it. As a team our rate of
success was fantastic. Yet my personal performance
was lackluster at best. I could feel that my confidence
for catching sea turtles was beginning to sink. Yet Aaron being the
incredible mentor that he was, continued to encourage
and critique my style. - You see that one?
- Yeah I see him. - [Man] Get out now fast first. (splashing) - Great TV. (chattering) - [Mark] Did you get a brown? (sighing)
- Okay. - [Mark] It's harder
than it looks, folks. - Man, it was the
same thing before. I was not in front
of the turtle. Time was running out and
my widow to land a giant, was beginning to close. When the boat slowly motored
into a clear stretch of water that revealed a massive dark
shadow beneath the surface. Alright guys we got a good
turtle out in front of us. Camera's rollin',
this could be it. This was it, the
pressure was on, and I would only have one dive, one chance to catch this turtle. - [Aaron] You see
him right there now? - [Coyote] Yep, yep, yep. There, right there. Aaron kept his sights locked
on the speeding reptile, waiting for an opportune moment when it would slow
it's forward momentum and prepare to breach the
surface for a breath of air. This would be my
window of opportunity and in that instance,
he shouted the command. - [Aaron] Dead
through, dead through. (splashing) - [Mark] Missed it. Oh, oh. (chattering) - [Aaron] I got it. (splashing) (triumphant music) - [Coyote] Right there I
was able to catch that. (cheering) Oh, careful, careful. (cheering) Caught a turtle.
(laughing) Now did that feel good. (cheering) Yeah, I jumped, grabbed
the back of the shell. (cheering) Man, that is a good
sized turtle right there. Without question, the biggest
turtle I have ever caught. (laughing) Man.
(cheering) Oh, I told you guys I'd do it. (laughing)
(cheering) - Oh nice.
- He is a big one. - That's a male.
- Look at the tail. - Yeah that's a male.
(cheering) Look at that tale. (laughing)
- Oh man. - My goodness.
- That's a dragon's tail. (cheering) Yes, yes. (cheering) That's my dragon right there.
(laughing) Man.
(laughing) Best turtle catch ever
of my life at least. (cheering) Alright guys we gotta
get the rest of our gear, get onto the research
boat, get the biometrics, and then release this
dragon back into the wild. Yes.
- Yes. - I hope I caught all
that on this camera. Wow. (splashing) (chattering) Alright guys well
there we have it, there is the green sea
turtle that I landed. And he is an absolute giant. This is the first
male of the trip that we have caught,
an absolute beast. Can you guys believe this? - [Mark] I can't
believe you caught it. That was an amazing catch.
- What a catch. Well when I jumped
into the water I kind of went to the side, I grabbed the side
of it's shell, my hands slid down, I held
onto the back of the shell and actually climbed
up the side of it to get right behind the
back of the carapace. And you can see how
healthy this turtle is. Look at, it is actually
spilling out of it's shell. I know buddy. Now let's take a look at the
carapace of this reptile. It is massive and I love this
teardrop shape, you see that? This allows these turtles to
stay completely streamlined when they're swimming
under the water. If you take a look
here, look at the size of this turtle's tail. Just like a snapping turtle, male green sea turtles have
an extremely long tail, look at that. As long and as big
around as my arm is. An absolute dragon
tail right there. Now you hear the
name green sea turtle and you may be
thinking to yourselves, "Well, Coyote, it's mostly
brown in coloration. "Why do they call it
a green sea turtle?" That name comes from a
thick layer of green fat that exists just beneath
the bone of the carapace that insulates them
between the bone and all of their main organs. I know buddy, you
just wanna get back out there into the
ocean, don't you? Now this guy's just
fine, don't worry. Sea turtles can stay
out of the water for an extended period of time. (sighs)
What a beautiful turtle. Look at those eyes. Such kind, intelligent eyes. And you may notice that the
turtles eyes are very wet, almost looks like it's crying. It's not crying, all
turtles are capable of secreting a mucus
from their eye membrane to help keep their eyes wet
when they're out of the water. This goes for all turtles, painted turtles, snapping
turtles, spiny soft shells, even sea turtles have the
ability to secrete that mucus. Now you'll notice the beak of
this reptile is not hooked. Because unlike a
snapping turtle, they're not out there
actually hunting for prey. When they get to be this big,
they're completely herbivores. Just kind of sifting
along the bottom eating algae and sea grass. And the underside, oh
let me see if you can... look at that, you see
how the lower part of the jaw is actually serrated? They have bolt
cutter-like power. That would easily slip off
the edge of your finger. So when I jumped into the water, the first thing I
was thinkin' was, "Don't get my fingers near
the mouth of the turtle." - [Mark] Alright
Coyote, I think, hey Mario, why don't
you jump in there and help Coyote put the... - Yeah I'm gonna need some help. This turtle is so
unbelievably strong and it just wants to spin. We wanna keep it as
calm as we possibly can. There you go buddy, Mario, you kinda got a
lock in place there? - Yeah I sure do. - Okay everyone, the
first thing I'm gonna do is get the length
of the carapace. Tra, see if you got
that magic tape. Thank you. I know buddy, I know. (shushing) - [Mario] Trying to
cool him down a little. - Sometimes what I do
with snapping turtles is actually just to place
my hand on top of the head. (shushing)
(gentle music) Okay. Gonna try to talk a
little bit quieter. Got him calmed down now,
okay so what we're gonna do is go right from the front edge
of the carapace there Mario if you wanna just hold that in place.
- Yeah you're good. - Right down the center line. It is right at 94 centimeters. - [Mark] Can you show
me that real quick? - Check that out.
(scraping) Without question, the largest
turtle I have ever caught. Thank you Traci. Alright so now the next
thing we want to do is get this turtle's weight. (scuffling)
(grunting) Getting the turtle
inside of this harness was one of the most
difficult aspects of this whole episode so far. Do you guys have any guesses as to how much
this turtle weighs? - [Mark] 240 pounds. - 240 pounds, Mario?
- 250. - 250?
- Cool, okay. - Ben what do you think?
- Hey Ben what do you think? - I'm gonna go 275.
- 275. - [Mark] Wow alright. - I'm gonna go 230.
- 230. - I say he weighs 230. (cranking) And good, turtle's
off the ground. - [Man] A little bit more,
a little bit more, more. - [Mark] Flying turtle. - [Aaron] Okay,
okay, he's clear. - 104.1 kilos.
- Wow. - Bring it down.
- Careful. - 230 pounds.
- Wow. - [Mark] Wow you were
right on the money. - I guessed it, 230.
(laughing) Amazing, 230 pounds is what
this green sea turtle weighs. What an absolute
giant, amazing, okay. The next thing we're gonna
do, is tag this sea turtle. This one has never
been tagged before so that's really exciting
for today's research. Where I'm gonna tag it is
right up here on it's left fin between these two scales. You see that right there? - [Mark] Now is that a
fin or a flipper Coyote? - Ah, I guess yeah,
it's whether you a fin or whether you call it
a flipper or a foot, sea turtles, and
one of the things that really makes them
different from other turtles, is you can see they do
not have typical toes. And like other turtles,
they are not actually able to tuck inside of their shells. Even less so than
a snapping turtle. This isn't gonna hurt, this is gonna be like
getting your ear pierced. I'm gonna do this as quickly
and as smoothly as possible. You got a good shot
right there Mark? - Sure do.
- Alright big guy, this is just gonna
- Now their skin is really tough.
- be a little pinch. - This isn't hurting the turtle. - No this skin is like leather. And I'm gonna ratchet down
real tight here, ready? One, two, three.
(grunting) There we go, perfect. Alright the turtle
is officially tagged. And as you guys know, I name
all the turtles that I catch. And I think we're gonna
name this one Eddie, after the man
- There he is - Who so perfectly
captained the ship today and lined us up to be able
to make this catch possible. I did not expect to
catch a turtle this size. I was just hoping that I could
catch a single sea turtle. And after getting the chance to stand on the front of that
boat and watch Aaron dive in and catch several turtles. I said to myself,
"You know what? "I think I can pull this off." But to catch one this
size is truly something that I never thought
was possible. Biggest turtle I
have ever caught. (dramatic music) Wow, what an epic end to one
amazing day here in Australia. And I have to give
an enormous thank you to World Wildlife
Fund of Australia, and the Gudjuda Rangers
for bringing us out, showing us the conservation
work that they're doing, and all the efforts
they're making to not only preserve
but also protect these incredible
marine reptiles. I'm Coyote Peterson,
be brave, stay wild, we'll see you on
the next adventure. Alright guys, it's
time to get Eddie back off into the ocean. The green sea turtle
represents everything that is beautiful
about our oceans. And they're considered to be one of the most revered
reptiles on the planet. Their sentient nature has
made them an iconic figure in the world in conservation. Yet the future of this
creature is unknown. As their species is either
considered threatened or endangered throughout
the world wide range. Still hope glows
brightly on the horizon as organizations like WWF
and Traditional Owner Rangers are constantly researching and promoting the
environmental preservation and conservation
of this species. Ultimately ensuring a legacy
for generations to come. If you thought diving in with
sea turtles was exciting, make sure to go back
and watch the episode where I battled the
treacherous seas to swim in the
presence of dragons. And don't forget, subscribe,
so you can join me and the crew on our
next low tide adventure. (bear roars)
(coyote howls)
