The White-sided and the White-beaked dolphins are the least known species of the genus Lagenorhynchus. They have been classified as insufficiently known and highly vulnerable by IUCN (2007). Based in previous findings by Banguera-Hinestroza 2008, the ASCOBANS workshop on small cetacean population structure highlighted the need for further genetic analysis of L. acutus in the eastern North Atlantic to elucidate whether or not different populations are presented in ASCOBAN area (Evans and Teilmann 2009). At the moment there
is an ongoing project funded by ASCOBAN, which is evaluating the differences among samples from different regions, using mainly the mtDNA control region. This new proposal will include a least 20 microsatellites markers previously standardized, in order to complement the ongoing study and evaluate differences at the nuclear level. The inclusion of microsatellite data will be important to test hypothesis about the influence of human activities in the reduction of genetic diversity in this species. On the other hand, in a previous study Banguera-Hinestroza et al. (2010) suggested the existence of a least two differentiated populations of L. albirostris in the eastern North Atlantic, one around the British Islands and other in Northern Norway-Barents Sea (See Evans and Teilmann 2009). A new study including samples from other regions such as the Faeroes Iceland and Iceland will improve our understanding of the population structure of L. albirostris, detect barriers to dispersion and generate important data for future conservation plans.