Nice points, Tim. "Indirectly" you remind us that we are talking about survival, not still being alive after a period of time out of the water.
Analogies with the trout world are imperfect; however, earlier this year, I read an entertaining account from an angler who was priviledged to fish some prime private trout water in Germany. When he arrived his host announced a 14 inch limit; so our angler assumed he would C&R till he got a 14 incher. Not so, the host club considered the stress of being landed sufficiently damaging that any trout he caught could not be returned. After landing a 4 incher, a 6 incher, and another 4 incher in less than an hour, he was escorted off of the water with his limit for the day and, it turned out, for the trip because all sections of the river were booked solid for the durationt of his stay. At least the beer was good day after day.
It used to be that "rolling up the score" was considered unsportsmanlike in HS and college sports. In 16" softball, they called the game when a team got 20 runs ahead. I like to think it still is so. Is there some equivalent point in fishing? I kind of wonder because I read reports of 20, 50, and 100 fish days. Just a question.