Considering the monotony of the searching platform and the behavior of traditional maritime coverage path planning, as well as the absence of cooperation, this paper establishes the mathematical model for the maritime cooperative searching problem using multiple platforms and researches the strategies of searching cooperation and path optimization. In terms of the cooperative searching, definitions on homogenous and heterogeneous cooperative searching strategies are provided, and simulation scenarios of different scales are designed. In terms of the path optimization, the strategies based on behaviors and intelligent algorithms are designed according to the searching characteristics of different maritime platforms. On that basis, comparisons on effects from various cooperative searching and the path optimization strategies in different maritime scenarios are conducted. It is indicated that the path optimization strategy using hybrid intelligent algorithms presents a superior performance than the behavior-based strategy and the single algorithm. The heterogeneous cooperative searching strategy is probable to take advantages of different platforms while making up their disadvantages, contributing to a higher profit than the single and the homogenous cooperative searching.