A British fishing boat seized by French authorities in the English Channel last month was released after officials forced its owner to pay €30,000 (£25,260), it has been revealed.

The Lady T, based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was intercepted by the Pluvier, a French navy ship, on May 22 for “non-authorised fishing in French waters”.

Four days later, the vessel, which was accused of fishing for whelks without a licence, was allowed to return to Britain following the payment of what sources described at the time as a “substantial” sum.

Pierre-Michel Bon-Gloro, the deputy departmental director of territories and the sea for Pas-de-Calais, has now disclosed that the Lady T was released “upon payment of a €30,000 deposit” to French maritime authorities.

A fishing industry source said: “The skipper of the Lady T is not at all happy about the French keeping the €30,000 bail. It’s effectively a fine by any other word.

“He’s set up a GoFundMe page to help him pay it because it’s a hell of a lot of money for anyone to have to lose like that.”

‘Tit-for-tat spat’

Following the seizure of the Lady T, Olivier Leprêtre, chairman of the regional fishing committee in northern France, suggested it had been intercepted in a tit-for-tat spat.

It came after the skipper and owner of Pierre D’Ambre, a French-registered vessel, were fined £40,000 at Newcastle magistrates’ court in April after being accused of bottom-trawling in a prohibited area of the Offshore Brighton Marine Conservation Zone.