The other option to C&R is to leave them alone. We know that some fraction of those fish, no matter how well handled, die. And, as was mentioned before, dead is dead and it really doesn't matter how they died. Be it in a gill net, poached, kept in a "legitimate" kill fishery, chewed up in a turbine, dredged up. Whatever. And we need to understand that.

What C&R does is keep anglers on the water and provides an economic voice for the fish.