The protocol has been ratified by 15 countries and diverse NGOs, such as The Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, that have been involved in the preservation of Caribbean marine life.
"Over the last decade, you almost never heard of nests' being poached," said David Godfrey, executive director of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, a sea turtle research and conservation group.
WHAT -- Introduced in January and developed in cooperation with the Sea Turtle Survival League and the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, the program includes educational materials, nighttime walks, children's activities and, for families checking in with children 16 and under, adoption certificates for G.P.S.-tagged turtles that can be tracked online.
His work tagging and recording data on green turtles in Tortuguero, Costa Rica, which he chronicled in "The Windward Road," published in 1956, led to the founding of the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, a leading sea turtle research organization based in Gainesville, Fla.
Marydele Donnelly, the director of international policy for the Caribbean Conservation Corporation, a private group not associated with the study, described reports of similar problems in northeastern South America and parts of Costa Rica, but said, "The extent of the problem in Gabon, however, is appalling".
The loggerhead turtle, which the government lists as threatened, is far more productive: it will dig about 60,000 nests this year, the Caribbean Conservation Corporation estimates.
Capitalism and corporations: There is no question that this new strategy of conservation partnering with corporations has made some sincere and passionate conservationists nervous.
In the 1960s, before the modern conservation movement blossomed, corporations believed they had the moral and legal right to fill in the Bay.
Two years ago, a Conservancy chapter in Texas gave Centex Homes its Conservation Leadership Award for "corporations that have shown leadership in and dedication to conserving natural resources". Although its advertisements feature photographs of dense forests, the Conservancy is allied with two of the nation's biggest tree consumers, Georgia-Pacific Corp. and International Paper Co.
These groups can't match the financial resources of corporations, but conservation issues resonate with voters, and Americans are suspicious of candidates backed heavily by corporate polluters.
To that end, Ms. Byers said her nonprofit organization had set up a Heart of the Pine Barrens Fund, seeking support from corporations, other conservation groups and individuals.
