Conservation Officers, elected by their communities, receive training on how to find and protect turtle nests from poachers and predators. They have also learned how to move a turtle nest if it is vulnerable to inundation by the tide, a management intervention practiced to maximize the number of baby turtles reaching the sea, and in tagging.

A nest protection incentive scheme was introduced in 2002 in order to encourage more community involvement and to reduce the level of poaching which was about 80% of nests. Anyone reporting a nest to the Conservation Officer receives a modest fee and when the nest hatches, an additional fee is paid. On Mafia Island this scheme has seen the level of nest poaching decline to less than 1%.