The problem is that hiring bounty hunters to go after pirates isn't really what Zoners do, it's the threat of no longer trading with a particular faction that keeps them from messing with the Zoners in the first place.
Scenario: A member of a particular pirate faction assaults (taxes or attacks, same thing) a Zoner:
Zoner representative: "We demand an apology and restitution for this unprovoked attack, otherwise we shall have to refrain for any further dealing with your faction."
Pirate faction representative: "Oh, crap..."
In general, the unlawful factions need the Zoners more than the Zoners need any individual unlawful faction. This is why the NPC unlawfuls don't bother Zoners, even though Zoners allow the BHG and anyone else to dock on their bases. Anyone who risks the fragile web of neutrality would be dealt with harshly by their superiors, because they can't risk alienating the Zoners. The Zoners should have more to fear from the Houses and House factions (who don't rely on the Zoners for their support network) than the unlawfuls, which is why they invited the Corsairs to Gran Canaria (they were afraid that Bretonia would discover their system and start trying to move in).
I already pointed out the problem with any half intelligent trader choosing a Zoner ID rather than a generic Trader ID, and I already said I don't know how to deal with that.
