Reef hooks - a great idea or environmental damage?

On a recent dive trip, I was discussing diving in currents with a local instructor and he was totally against reef hooks. I was surprised, my experience told me they saved reefs from careless divers, he however felt otherwise. This got me thinking, what is the real value of reef hooks?

Strong currents are detrimental to novice divers and weak swimmers, it is not always possible for all dives to be drift (drift in the same direction as the current) and divers may need to either swim into the current or hold position. The reef hook is perfect for underwater photographers; unfortunately, the damage I have seen from photographers to get that perfect shot is disturbing.A home made reef hook is generally fabricated from a large fishing hook with the barb ground down and a length of line to hold onto, a loop for the hand is tied or snap clip attached. The diver secures the hook under a section of the reef and clips or holds on in the current whilst hovering above the reef causing no damage to the environment.

Of course, the diver has to show some discretion to where they place their hook, careful not to attach to a coral mount or allow their line to contact corals. Common sense, I thought, nonetheless, reef hook attachment should be covered in the briefing. I have seen new and novice divers hang onto delicate corals in a not so delicate manner causing untold damage to the reef when faced with strong currents. Little care or concern is considered in such circumstances, the reef hook followed with instructions for use has the ability to prevent reef damage.

These days, you can purchase a commercially made reef hook from your local dive store for a very reasonable cost - of course, the cost to the underwater environment of not using a reef hook is so much more than a couple of dollars. The counter argument is reef hooks poorly attached causes reef damage by uprooting parts of the reef is a strong argument, I counter however with, these same divers normally hold onto coral heads causing significant damage.

Properly trained, suitably equipped and correctly supervised divers makes the reef hook an invaluable environmentally sustainable tool. I'm all for it.