This research will explore physical elements of the environment and their spatial character, principles of conservation science, human needs and institutional constraints for the purpose of establishing marine protected areas. The goal is to identify institutional and societal constructs that are frequently left out of decision-making for marine protected area design and management. Research conclusions will be based on comparison of spatial outcomes. The researcher will synthesize approaches that have addressed the challenges of working in a multi-faceted, high-use marine environment in which there are varying levels of information, challenges of cooperation between local and regional managers, scientists and users and difficulty soliciting the input of relevant stakeholders. Major phases of the research are: 1) development of a typology of the designation of terrestrial reserves in Israel and marine reserves in the territorial waters of countries along the Mediterranean Sea; 2) review and application of appropriate decision support tools that can address at least two identified challenges in the Israeli context: connectivity of reserves and stakeholder participation; and 3) comparison of outcomes from the use of decision support tools chosen based on the country context needs and actual reserve design and management plans proposed by the nature protection authorities in Israel. This research can inform regulators, policymakers and conservationists about what various theoretical views and values mean when applied to conditions in the field (both in terms of physical resources and institutional constructs) and how and to what extent real-world outcomes engender preferred practices based on ecosystem based management and integrated coastal zone management for marine reserves in a network context.