A British fishing boat seized in the Channel by French authorities has been released, The Telegraph understands.

The skipper of the Lady T, who appeared in a court in Boulogne-sur-Mer on Monday afternoon, has been ordered to pay a “substantial fine”, sources have claimed.

The exact amount has not been disclosed.

The Lady T, based in Eastbourne, East Sussex, was intercepted by a French navy ship on Thursday for fishing for whelks without a licence.

Olivier Leprêtre, the chairman of the regional fishing committee in northern France, suggested on Sunday that the boat had been seized as a tit-for-tat measure after a French skipper was fined in a case last month.

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