Amber Hunting on the Coast of Lithuania

Since ancient times, people have tried to gather amber in various ways - digging from the bottom of the lagoon, pulling it by diving, etc., but the main method - catching with scoop-nets - has remained as it was. Collecting amber with scoop-nets is recorded in the Prussian archives including documents and engravings of the 17th century, but it is acknowledged that the practice is much older. Collection of amber - Baltic gold - on our coast became a free and accessible activity for everyone only from the 19th century, because for centuries this activity was strictly supervised.

Amber is caught after a storm by wading into the sea near the shore or a little deeper and using self-made tools of various shapes and sizes consisting of a long shaft and a metal hoop with a mesh bag attached to it. How many amber nuggets are caught depends on many things: weather conditions, the number and strength of storms, wind, currents, wave height and direction, and the knowledge and experience of the amber hunters. It is best when after a storm the waves calm down and push each other ashore, creating currents that lift algae, sticks, and lichens from the bottom and washing them up on the shore together with pieces of amber.

Amber hunting is done alone or in pairs - with a family member or friend: one works in the water with a scoop-net, the other looks for pieces of amber among the pulled sea vegetation. When talking about the craft of amber hunting, the fishermen say that certain secrets can be passed only to family members. And now in Palanga, Nida, Karklė, and other areas of the Klaipėda region, there are families where several generations are engaged in amber hunting. The collected amber is processed by the amber hunters themselves or sold to buyers.

There are several dozen professional amber hunters in Lithuania, and many more amateurs who wade into the waves occasionally. Although it is hard, tiring, and sometimes dangerous work, for those who regularly practice it, it is a way to earn extra money. For others - locals and those coming from further afield - it is a pleasant pastime, a way to experience the subtleties and challenges of amber hunting during guided tours in the Seaside Regional Park.

Submission by Administration of Lithuania Minor Protected Areas

Tradition bearers – amber hunters living in the coastal areas of Lithuania and employees of the Administration of Lithuania Minor Protected Areas and the Seaside Regional Park Group