The progressive expansion of intensive marine aquaculture activities has raised growing concerns about the impact of the marine environment. The impact of bivalve farming, which is mostly due to mussel and oyster farms, is related to the intensive biodeposition of the faeces and pseudo-faeces in the bottom sediments that modify the physical and chemical characteristics of the benthic environment and consequently affect the environment. The goal of the study was to determine the impact of a mussel farm situated in the middle Eastern Adriatic Sea on the marine environment through changes in the meiofaunal abundance and community structure in the sediment. Sediment samples were taken at the depth of 17 m, in three replicate corers by SCUBA diving at three stations: one located at the edge of the mussel farm (i.e., ST 1) and the other directly below the farm (i.e., ST 2) and at one control station (i.e., CTRL ST) situated at the distance of cca 700 m from the mussel farm. During the sampling, physicalchemical parameters were also recorded such as temperature, salinity, saturated oxygen, dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll-a, turbidity and pH values. These results showed that the total abundance of meiofauna is the highest at P2. Nematoda prevailed and was the most abunded with over 93% of the total that showed their resistance to potential disturbances in the environment. The highest biodiversity was recorded at CTRL ST, while there were no differences found in biodiversity between P1 and CTRL ST. Nematoda, copepoda and nauplii were found at all three stations and were also the most abundant taxa, while cladocera and isopoda were found only at CTRL ST in terms of rare taxa. These results showed that the presence of the mussel farm resulted in increased total meiofaunal abundance under the farm, but caused an reduction in meiofaunal diversity. In fact, these preliminary results revealed minor differences in meiofaunal community structure between research stations, as the significant dominance of nematodes in sediments under the shellfish- farm impact and the gradual disappearance of rare taxa below the farm in comparison with CTRL ST and P1.