Islanders and all other travellers must show identification on BC Ferries northern routes as of June 15.
BC Ferries spokesperson Deborah Marshall says the new policy has been tested over to help passengers get used to it, and as of next Friday, identification will be required.
Picture I.D. is not essential. Ferries will accept permanent residents cards, citizenship cards, student visas along with driver's licenses, passports, certificate of Indian status and more.
For those under 16, student cards, birth certificates, care cards, letter or consent or letter of birth for newborns are acceptable forms of identification.
Travellers will need their I.D. when they check in at the terminal and when they board the vessel. This will help ensure the passenger manifest is accurate. She says a passenger may have checked in, but then had to leave the terminal before loading.
Ms Marshall says the policy only applies to the longer Northern Routes. Those traveling on the Kwuna will not need to carry identification.
She says the policy has been implemented in anticipation of Transport Canada regulations which will require identification from passengers on sailings more than 5.5 hours. This covers the Skidegate/Prince Rupert run, Rupert to Port Hardy and the Discovery Coast. None of the southern destinations will be affected.
As for rumours of a new policy about standby passengers being left behind if the voyage is running late, Ms Marshall says this is not true.
"We've certainly been trying to improve our on-time performance," she said of recent late sailings on the Northern Routes, "but we wouldn't want to penalize our customers."