World shame coast in COSTA RICA?

I got an email today from a friend, complete with pictures of Costa Ricans raiding sea turtle nests in broad daylight.  There seems to be some controversy about whether or not these pictures are part of a hoax.  I googled "sea turtles costa rica egg stealing" and the very first result was that of a hoax debunking site that stated the egg gathering was part of a conservation program. I checked Snopes.com, and found information about the disputed conservation program.

 

The bottom line seems to be that while controversial, this "harvest" of sea turtle eggs is perfectly legal.  The claim is that  the first sets of eggs laid on the beach are destroyed by subsequent mother turtles laying their own eggs.  So the reasoning is that since the first eggs are basically not viable, why not let the locals digs them up for profit?

 

It seems to me that since these turtle are a vulnerable population, it would make more sense to gather these "hopeless" eggs and then attempt to hatch them. But governments are not known for having common sense. Go figure.