Malye Kurily Refuge includes the most part of Shikotan Island, the biggest island of the Lesser Kuril Ridge, and the following islands: Polonskogo, Zelenyi, Yuri, Tanfilyeva, Anuchina, Storozhevoi, Signalny, Rifovy and other small islands and rocks and waters of the Pacific Ocean surrounding them. The area of the refuge is 681 square kilometers.
Malye Kurily State Refuge is managed by the administration of Kurilsky Nature Reserve and is situated in Yuzhno-Kurilsk District of Sakhalin Region.