Sounds a lot like what's happening here. There're a lot of medium/small Stripers around but the population, overall, continues to decline for a variety of reasons even tho CNR is practiced here and I'd bet that many recreational fisherman already practice CNR back there.

Two things that're mentioned in the article that have negative impact on the east coast fishery is the commercial catch and the lack of game fish status. At least Stripers here are afforded game fish status and there is no overt commercial fishery.