Call to stop sex on Nelson island

Gay men using Nelson's Rabbit Island for public sexual encounters leave behind a mess of condoms, lubricants and underwear, and it has to stop, workers on the island say.

AstroEnviro employee Brendon Pedersen said he had thought stories about the sexual activity on the island, 24km west of Nelson and accessed by a road bridge, were a joke until he started working there.

"You see them, they are right there. I wouldn't want to bring my kids down here," he told the Nelson Mail.

He said makeshift huts along the beach were littered with tell-tale rubbish, including condoms, lubricant, underwear and bottles of alcohol.

"We just want the public to know so we can get rid of them."

Security guards regularly patrolled the area, and had marked problem areas with green spray paint.

However, with summer was on the way, sexual activities appeared to have picked up, Mr Pedersen said.

"If we were down here doing that with our girlfriends we would probably be arrested."

His colleague, Grant Kerr, said when he took his children to the beach he would make a point of not venturing into the area.

"It used to be going on a lot further away but now it is only about 200 metres from the reserve."

Police said they received one or two complaints about nudity at the island each year.

- NZPA