  This article is based on the covariant canonical formalism and corresponding
symplectic structure on phase space developed by Witten, Zuckerman and others
in the context of field theory. After recalling the basic principles of this
procedure, we construct the conserved bilinear symplectic current for generic
elastic string models. These models describe current carrying cosmic strings
evolving in an arbitrary curved background spacetime. Particular attention is
paid to the special case of the chiral string for which the worldsheet current
is null. Different formulations of the chiral string action are discussed in
detail, and as a result the integrability property of the chiral string is
clarified.
