Anyone who travells the Adriatic coastal road from Split to Dubrovnik can't miss the delta of the river Neretva. Inhabitants of those places call themselves "Neretvani", only after that they perceive themselves as Dalmatians and Croats. The vast flooding plane with its characterictics influenced lives of Neretvani ever since the ancient times. In more distant past locals fished for different kinds of fish, especially eels which have always been coming to swamps and lakes of the delta to spawn. Neretvani went fishing to the open sea, too and they were bird hunting in the swamp for their personal use. In the 19'th century, when this area was under Austro-Hungarian reign, first attemps to bring the heavily flooding river under control were made. Later, mostly after the WW II., they dug many canals, so called jendeki, and they still dig them. But the majority of delta is under the FAO protection and remains intact.

Today the fertile soil which is gained by the digging of canals gives great opportunities for growing many different varieties of fruit. The locals still take part in fishing and bird hunting but for most of them the main source of income are mandarines. The favourable climate conditions enable plentiful crops and according to many connoisseurs they are among the best in the world.

Because of the wealthy plantations of citrus fruits of high quality the delta of the river Neretva is called California of the Adriatic region.